ISIS truck killer can face death penalty

The government can seek the death penalty against an ISIS sympathizer accused of killing eight people in a truck attack on the Hudson River bike path despite President Trump's calls for his execution, a judge ruled Thursday.

Lawyers for Sayfullo Saipov, 31, had argued that Trump's tweets about the Oct. 31, 2017, terrorist attack tainted the process by which then-Attorney General Jeff Sessions chose to pursue the death penalty at trial.

“He killed 8 people, badly injured 12. SHOULD GET DEATH PENALTY!” Trump tweeted the morning after the attack.

But Manhattan Federal Judge Vernon Broderick wrote that Saipov had no evidence that Trump's comments affected the Department of Justice's procedures for deciding whether to seek the death penalty.

The judge did note, however, that Trump's statements “were perhaps ill-advised given the pendency of this case.”

Saipov, who has ranted in court about ISIS, is charged with driving a rented pickup truck down the popular bike path, leaving a 14block trail of destruction.

It wasn't the first time an accused terrorist argued he shouldn't get the death penalty due to a President's comments.

“Saipov has offered no evidence that the President's remarks impacted the Attorney General's decision-making process in any way,” Broderick wrote.

Saipov's trial is scheduled for October.