


President Donald Trump weighed in on Bryan Kohberger’s Idaho murder case on Monday, urging the presiding judge to make the defendant explain why he killed four college students.
Trump questions the plea deal that spares Kohberger from the death penalty and asks why there are so few answers about his motivation for the murder spree nearly three years later.
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“These were vicious murders, with so many questions left unanswered,” the president posted on Truth Social.
Trump’s comments came two days ahead of Kohberger’s sentencing.
Instead of the death penalty, Kohberger is expected to receive four consecutive life terms in prison without parole, one for each murdered student, in addition to another 10 years.
“While Life Imprisonment is tough, it’s certainly better than receiving the Death Penalty but, before Sentencing, I hope the Judge makes Kohberger, at a minimum, explain why he did these horrible murders. There are no explanations, there is no NOTHING,” Trump wrote.
“People were shocked that he was able to plea bargain, but the Judge should make him explain what happened,” the president added.
The plea deal sparked controversy among the victims’ families. Kohberger previously maintained his innocence until he pleaded guilty to all five charges earlier this month in an agreement that allowed him to avoid death by firing squad. The deal also made the trial, set to start Aug. 18, unnecessary.
Kohberger admitted to fatally stabbing Madison Mogen, Kaylee Goncalves, Xana Kernodle, and Ethan Chapin after breaking through the sliding door of a rental home near the University of Idaho on Nov. 13, 2022. He had no known connection to the victims.

While the killer’s motivation remains unclear, one of the victims’ fathers suspects the murders were “sexually motivated” after violent pornography that matched the details of the murders was found on Kohberger’s phone. In a recent interview with NewsNation, Steve Goncalves claimed Kohberger may have been driven by “weird porn fetishes.”
The father’s statement contradicts the prosecution’s argument that there was “no evidence” of “any sexual component or sexual assault” to the murders.
“I don’t care about what [Latah County prosecutor] Bill Thompson said,” Steve Goncalves said.
Kohberger, a criminology doctoral student at the nearby Washington State University, was apparently fascinated with serial killers, according to one of his former professors. Dr. Katherine Ramsland, who taught Kohberger at DeSales University in Pennsylvania, wondered whether her classes on antisocial behavior that covered serial killers and mass murderers may have inspired the quadruple murders.
“I have to look at the framework of what I taught and wonder, did I inspire him in some way?” Ramsland told NewsNation ahead of her former student’s expected guilty plea. “But I can’t second-guess that because I may have inspired somebody else to become an FBI agent. And unfortunately, in this field, that’s what we live with.”
JUDGE LIFTS GAG ORDER IN BRYAN KOHBERGER IDAHO MURDER CASE
Kohberger waived his right to appeal or to ask for a sentence reduction as part of the plea deal with prosecutors, although Judge Steven Hippler said the waiver doesn’t mean he has no chance to appeal. The Idaho judge cited the Supreme Court’s 2019 decision, Garza v. Idaho, that found defendants may still have the right to appeal even if they waive that right.
Kohberger’s sentencing is scheduled for Wednesday morning.