The latest pardon announcement was made even though Trump has set crackdowns on illegal drug trafficking as a centerpiece of his second term.
President Trump says ground attack on Venezuela will ‘begin soon’
President Donald Trump said in an address to troops that the United States would launch a ground attack on Venezuela “immediately.”
President Donald Trump has announced that he will pardon the former Honduran president who was sentenced to 45 years in prison on drug and gun charges, a move that comes as Trump regularly speaks about the need to crack down on illegal drugs.
Trump said in a social media post on Nov. 28 that he would pardon former two-term Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted by a U.S. jury last year of “conspiring to distribute over 400 tons of cocaine and related firearms offenses,” according to the Justice Department.
“I am extending a full pardon to former President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who, according to many people I respect, has been treated very harshly and unjustly,” Trump wrote on social media.
The Justice Department said in a press release last year that Hernández accepted millions of dollars in bribes from “violent drug lords” and used the funds to “fuel his rise in Honduran politics.”
“As a result, once Hernández assumed power in Honduras, he increased his support and protection for his co-conspirators, helping them move mountains of cocaine, commit acts of violence and murder, and turn Honduras into one of the most dangerous countries in the world,” the press release said.
President Trump has made cracking down on illegal drug trafficking a centerpiece of his second term, imposing tariffs on countries he accuses of not doing enough to stop the flow of fentanyl. The regime also launched military attacks on suspected drug-trafficking ships in the Caribbean. President Trump told military officials during a Thanksgiving conference call that he would soon expand military operations to include ground attacks.
Trump also intervened in Honduran politics on November 28, renewing his support for Nasri Asufura of the Conservative National Party, who he said would push back against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and “his narco-terrorists.”
“Will Maduro and his narco-terrorists take over other countries like they took over Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela?” President Trump wrote in a social media post. “The man who is standing up for democracy and fighting against Maduro is Tito Asufura.”
Contributed by: Reuters
