Like all libs/Dems he wants the same thing fascists/Republicans want, he just doesn’t want to be the one to pull the (semi-metaphorical) trigger. He’s fine with these people being executed, he just doesn’t want to be viewed as responsible for it.

Hell, the only reason this is being brought up at all is he/the Dems lost. If Kopmala won she wouldn’t have pardoned anyone/commuted their sentence to life in prison, they would have been stuck on death row until the next execution-happy pres got in