Trump pardons cocaine kingpin who ruled Honduras

President Donald Trump pardoned a former Honduran leader sentenced to prison on cocaine distribution charges, a move some Democrats say undercuts the rationale for Trump's aggressive posture toward Venezuela that includes military strikes on alleged drug boats.

Trump said Nov. 28 that he planned to pardon former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez. A White House official and Hernandez's attorney, Renato Stabile, confirmed Dec. 2 that the pardon has been issued. Stabile said Hernandez was released early Dec. 2 from a federal prison, where he was serving a 45-year sentence "for cocaine importation and related weapons offenses," according to the Justice Department.

Hernandez was convicted in March of 2024 after a three-week jury trial in New York City. He was "at the center of one of the largest and most violent drug-trafficking conspiracies in the world," helping to bring more than 400 tons of cocaine into the U.S., the Justice Department said in a news release last year after his conviction.

Federal officials said Hernandez used bribes from drug-trafficking organizations to "fuel his rise" and then provided "support and protection for his co-conspirators, allowing them to move mountains of cocaine, commit acts of violence and murder, and help turn Honduras into one of the most dangerous countries in the world."

Hernandez's involvement in the drug-trafficking operation extended from at least 2004 through 2022, according to DOJ. He was in office until shortly before he was extradited to the U.S. in 2022.

Prosecutor Jacob Gutwillig said during Hernandez’s 2024 sentencing that the former president “corrupted and corroded Honduran government institutions” and protected the drug operation “with the full power of the state.” Hernandez was appealing his conviction when he was pardoned.

Trump said in a social media post that he was issuing the pardon because "people that I greatly respect" told him Hernandez was "treated very harshly and unfairly." Axios reported that longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone lobbied for the pardon.

Asked about the pardon at a Dec. 2 event,, Trump claimed that Hernandez was charged because "he was the president" and there were "some drugs being sold" in his country during the Biden administration.

"A lot of people in Honduras asked me to do that, and I did it. I feel very good about it," Trump said. "If you have some drug dealers in your country, and you're the president, you don't necessarily put the president jail for 45 years."

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt during a Dec. 1 news conference described Hernandez's case as a "clear... over prosecution" by former President Joe Biden's administration. Leavitt responded to a question about whether the clemency action undercuts Trump's moves on Venezuela, which include the boat strikes and a large buildup of military forces, by saying "I don't think so."

"I think that President Trump has been quite clear in his defense of the United States homeland to stop these illegal narcotics from coming to our borders, whether that's by land or by sea," Leavitt said. "And he's also made it quite clear that he wants to correct the wrongs of the weaponized Justice Department under the previous administration."

Democrats criticized the pardon.

Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Virginia, called it "shocking" in a CBS interview and said it suggests Trump "cares nothing about narco-trafficking... and if he doesn't care about narco-trafficking... then what is this Venezuela thing really about?"

Trump has made cracking down on illegal drug trafficking central to his second term, imposing tariffs on countries he accuses of not doing enough to stop fentanyl distribution. His administration has also launched a campaign targeting alleged Venezuelan drug traffickers that has drawn criticism from legal experts and members of Congress.

Trump told military service members during a Thanksgiving call that he soon will expand the military operation around Venezuela to include strikes on land.

Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, said on social media after Trump announced his intention to pardon the convicted drug trafficker: "Don’t tell me Donald Trump is killing people in boats in the Caribbean to stop drug trafficking."

At Hernandez's sentencing, New York District Court Judge Kevin Castel noted that in shipping 400 tons of cocaine worth $10 billion to the United States, some “drove trucks, piloted boats, or flew airplanes loaded with cocaine.”

The judge said Hernandez used his political power to limit the risk of interdiction of cocaine and the risk of arrest of drug traffickers, who provided him financial support.

“The jury heard the testimony of Juan Orlando Hernandez, and saw right through his polished demeanor,” Castel said. “They saw him for what he was, a two-faced politician, hungry for power, who presented himself as a champion against gangs, murder, crime and drug trafficking, but secretly protected a select group of drug traffickers.”

Hernandez maintained his innocence at the sentencing and submitted supporting letters. In his official sentencing memo, his attorneys attached photographs of him appearing with former President Joe Biden, former Vice President Mike Pence and Trump.

He quoted Dante and Martin Luther King Jr. in professing what he said was a wrongful conviction.

“Despite everything done to me, which is an outrage, and a lynching, I am an optimist, and I know that the truth will be known later on,” Hernandez said at the 2024 sentencing. 

This story has been updated to add new information.

Contributing: Francesca Chambers