The Rupert Murdoch–owned Wall Street Journal has condemned Donald Trump for pardoning a former Honduran president jailed for smuggling billions of dollars’ worth of cocaine into the U.S.
The paper’s editorial board questioned why Trump freed Juan Orlando Hernández after he was sentenced to 45 years in 2024 for conspiring to smuggle what authorities called an “almost unfathomable” 400 tons of cocaine into the country, and if the 79-year-old’s vanity was the deciding factor.
“President Trump, like other politicians, sometimes does something unpopular to please his base,” the board wrote. “But what is the audience for Mr. Trump’s pardon of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández?”
It has been reported that Trump decided to pardon Hernández after the disgraced Central American leader sent him a fawning letter seeking clemency for his drug-trafficking conviction.
“What a strange turn of events. Perhaps Mr. Trump thinks he’s playing geopolitical chess, but he has a long record of high susceptibility to flattery, and his pardon without explanation undermines the rule of law and the prosecutors who put Mr. Hernández away,” the board wrote.
“Which convicted criminals will be the next to discover that praising Donald Trump’s magnificence is a get-out-of-jail-free card?”
In the letter, dated Oct. 28, Hernández claimed he was the victim of “political persecution” by the Biden-Harris administration and compared his plight to that of the U.S. president.
“We are men of faith, patriots, willing to risk our lives for the safety of our people. You were targeted, and by the grace of God, you survived. I, too, faced real threats and assassination attempts from powerful criminal organizations, yet neither of us stepped back,” Hernández wrote. “Instead, we doubled down, determined to leave our nations more secure than we found them.”
Hernández went on to lavish praise on Trump, crediting him for attempting to broker a Middle East peace deal “many thought impossible.”
“In light of these ongoing injustices and the clear case of lawfare by the Biden-Harris administration, I respectfully request a review of my case in the interest of justice,” he added. “I am mindful of the words you spoke at your inauguration, that ‘never again will the immense power of the state be weaponized to persecute political opponents,’ and that under your leadership, justice will be fair, equal, and impartial.”
According to The New York Times, the letter was delivered to Trump by longtime ally Roger Stone just hours before the president announced his plan to pardon Hernández. The White House has denied suggestions that Trump decided to pardon the former Honduran president only after reading the flattering message.
Speaking aboard Air Force One on Sunday, Trump backed Hernández’s claim that his conviction for running a massive drug-smuggling operation was somehow a “Biden Administration setup.”
“Would Mr. Trump care to elaborate for a perplexed public, including Republicans on Capitol Hill? The Trump Administration is saying that illegal drugs are a threat serious enough to justify U.S. military strikes on alleged trafficking boats in the Caribbean, and it’s also trying to push out Venezuelan dictator Nicolás Maduro,” the Journal wrote.
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
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