Trump just pardoned a person responsible for more American deaths than Bin Laden

Trump 100% personally profited from this pardon

Donald Trump just hit a new low—if that’s even possible. This week he pardoned a person responsible for more American deaths than Bin Laden caused on 9/11. And the reason Trump did this was to personally profit from the transaction. And yes, Trump’s pardons are all transactional in that he benefits from each of them financially and/or politically.

This latest pardon was of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez—a narco-terrorist who was a business associate of the notorious drug dealer El Chapo. Hernandez served as President of Honduras from 2014 to 2022--but in reality his real business was flooding the United States with cocaine. As the U.S. Department of Justice put it, Hernandez “was at the center of one of the largest and most violent drug-trafficking conspiracies in the world.” (Below is from DOJ Press release after the conviction.)

Trump knew that by pardoning Hernandez it would destroy his claim that the reason he’s executing people in small boats off the coast of Venezuela was to protect Americans from drugs. This is especially true given the cocaine Hernandez dumped into the U.S. killed tens of thousands of Americans by way of overdoses. Yet Trump doesn’t care because the benefit he receives from pardoning this convicted drug kingpin was worth it.

Hernandez was no low-level drug dealer. He was the key player in orchestrating a vast drug trafficking conspiracy that raked in millions for cartels while keeping Honduras one of Central America’s poorest, most violent and most corrupt countries. Federal prosecutors were able to prove in his 2024 trial that Hernández--as a congressman and then President of Honduras--partnered with the former leader of the Sinaloa Cartel, Joaquín Guzman Loera aka El Chapo, among other people.

As evidence at trial detailed, members of the Hernandez drug conspiracy often turned to violence and murder to protect and grow their drug trafficking enterprise--attacking rival traffickers who threatened their grip on the Honduran cocaine trade. As DOJ explained, Hernandez’s co-conspirators “were armed with machine guns and destructive devices, including AK-47s, AR-15s, and grenade launchers, which they used to protect their massive cocaine loads as they transited across Honduras on their way to the United States.”

In return, Hernandez personally received “millions of dollars of drug money from some of the largest and most violent drug-trafficking organizations in Honduras, Mexico, and elsewhere, and used those bribes to fuel his rise in Honduran politics.” Yes, he worked with the Mexican drug cartels that are responsible for producing fentanyl-- the primary driver of U.S. drug overdose deaths as the DEA has documented.

This guy was worse than “Scarface” in that he used the full powers of his political offices to benefit himself and his partners in crime. DOJ proved that at trial, explaining that as Hernández rose to power in Honduras, “he provided increased 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 would corruptly work with the United States to prosecute drug traffickers who threatened his grip on power--while at the same time promising drug traffickers who bribed him that they would remain safe in Honduras. And as prosecutors showed at trial, Hernandez enjoyed unleashing the cocaine on the United States, boasting he would “stuff the drugs up the gringos’ noses.”

Overall, the federal government proved that during his political career, “Hernández abused his powerful positions and authority in Honduras to facilitate the importation of over 400 tons of cocaine into the U.S.” Yes, the man Trump just pardoned facilitated the smuggling of 400 tons of cocaine into our nation--which is the equivalent of 800,000 pounds or 363 million grams.

Two of his co-defendants plead guilty -- a former Honduran police chief, Juan Carlos Bonilla, and Hernandez’s cousin Mauricio Hernandez. However, Hernandez stood trial in 2024 and was convicted of various felonies including conspiring to import cocaine into the United States and using machine guns and destructive devices in furtherance of the cocaine importation conspiracy. That led to his 45-year prison sentence.

After his conviction, then U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland said, “As President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández abused his power to support one of the largest and most violent drug trafficking conspiracies in the world, and the people of Honduras and the United States bore the consequences.”

U.S. Attorney Damian Williams for the Southern District of New York whose office prosecuted Hernández stated that the former President has “helped to facilitate the importation of an almost unfathomable 400 tons of cocaine to this country: billions of individual doses sent to the United States with the protection and support of the former president of Honduras.”

Simply put, Hernández was a very bad man. He abused his public office to engage in a massive illegal drug ring.

Worse, Hernández “flooded” the United States with cocaine. Hernández bears responsibility for the cocaine overdoses in the United States during the years he was a major supplier of that drug.

In fact, in the time Hernandez served as President from 2014 to 2022, overdose deaths caused by cocaine exploded in the U.S. At the start of Hernández’ term in 2014, the U.S. saw about 5,000 deaths by way of cocaine overdoses—per the CDC. By his last year in office in 2022, cocaine overdoses in our county rocketed up to nearly 28,000 per year. (See CDC chart below which shows spike in cocaine overdoses that exploded when Hernandez took power in 2014.)

That’s no coincidence. As the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York stated during sentencing, the 400 tons of cocaine Hernandez dumped into the U.S. amounted to “billions of individual doses.”

The blood of thousands of dead Americans is on Hernandez’s hands. In fact, Democratic Senator Jeanne Shaheen stated that point blank after the pardon was announced, “Hernandez’s conviction last year finally held him accountable for all the Honduran and American blood on his hands.”

Yet despite Hernández role in killing tens of thousands of Americans, Trump wrote on social media that he was issuing the pardon because “people that I greatly respect” told him Hernandez was “treated very harshly and unfairly.” Trump also claimed to reporters this was all “a Biden horrible witch hunt.”

But Hernández’s brother was prosecuted by then federal prosecutor Emil Bove during Trump’s first term in office for distributing 165 tons of cocaine into the U.S. and ordered to forfeit $138.5 million US in proceeds for illegal drug trafficking. Bove later served as Trump’s personal attorney before becoming a federal judge nominated by Trump. Was that a witch hunt as well?! Apparently not since the brother is still in jail—meaning there was no profit for Trump for pardoning him.

A former Drug Enforcement Administration agent who worked on the Hernandez case told The Washington Post that Hernández’s release “devastating.” This Trump pardon was so jarring that even a few Republicans slammed. One of the most direct was GOP Sen. Bill Cassidy, of Louisiana who wrote on social media, “Why would we pardon this guy and then go after [Venezuelan President Nicolas] Maduro for running drugs into the United States? Lock up every drug runner! Don’t understand why he is being pardoned.”

We can debate all day why Trump pardoned Hernandez. Some have speculated it’s tied to Trump’s wealthy crypto bros who run Próspera island off Honduras. Others believe the pardon of Hernandez helps Trump with his goal of taking over Venezuela. Of course, others have opined that Trump was paid massive bribes for the pardon—which as shocking as it sounds, he cannot be criminally prosecuted for thanks to the corrupt GOP Supreme Court decision last year.

We don’t know the exact reason why. But we can say with 100% certainty that this pardon of a man responsible for more American deaths than Bin Laden personally benefits Trump. As we all know, Trump only loyalty is to himself—and this is yet another example of that.

For those interested here is my new Daily Dean connected to this article:

---