Donald Trump reacted after Christa Pike survived lethal injection: “It shouldn’t be that difficult”

U.S. President Donald Trump said Thursday that the botched execution of death-row inmate Christa Pike, in Tennessee, is a “very interesting” situation and said he was surprised that authorities had failed to complete the procedure. Pike survived after being administered two lethal doses of pentobarbital and is in critical condition at a hospital in the U.S. state.

Asked about the case during a press conference held in Texas, Trump said that an execution “shouldn’t be that difficult.” He noted that the drug “didn’t work properly,” but declined to offer further comments, stating that the incident falls under the purview of Tennessee authorities.

The woman’s attorneys said that, during Wednesday’s execution attempt, at least seven needles were used to administer the lethal injection over the course of an hour. One of the needles was reportedly bent when it was removed from the inmate’s arm. According to the defense, Pike had known medical problems with her veins and had requested execution by firing squad, but Tennessee does not allow this option.

Fifty-year-old Christa Pike had been on death row for nearly three decades. She was sentenced in 1996 for the murder of her classmate Colleen Slemmer and would have been the first woman executed in Tennessee since 1819. Her attorneys have requested that her sentence be commuted.