Shaheen, Welch, Colleagues Introduce Resolution Condemning Trump’s Pardon of Ex-Honduran President and Drug Kingpin Juan Orlando Hernández

WASHINGTON - Yesterday, U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), Ranking Member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Peter Welch (D-VT), along with ten other Democratic Senators, introduced a resolution condemning President Trump's pardon of Juan Orlando Hernández, the former two-term President of Honduras who was sentenced to 45 years in prison and fined $8 million for drug trafficking and weapons conspiracy charges. The Senators' resolution emphasizes how President Trump's pardon of Hernández's vast crimes weakens the rule of law and severely harms the United States' credibility in combating global drug trafficking.

The resolution also outlines how President Trump's pardon is an affront to the extraordinary efforts of federal law enforcement and judicial officials who investigated and prosecuted Hernández, as well as to the jurors who performed their civic duty in convicting him.

"President Trump's decision to pardon Juan Orlando Hernández doesn't just seek to whitewash the crimes of a man who helped poison our communities with illegal drugs-it lays bare the inconsistency of President Trump's entire counternarcotics efforts," said Ranking Member Shaheen. "You cannot claim to be waging a tough fight against traffickers while simultaneously freeing someone convicted of facilitating one of the most notorious drug trafficking conspiracies in decades. The American people want real solutions to the drug epidemic, but this only makes us less safe and undermines the work of law enforcement and our partners abroad."

"President Trump's pardon of Juan Orlando Hernández is outrageous. The evidence was overwhelming that throughout his career he abused his office to protect violent drug cartels in return for bribes to finance his political ambitions. His detractors were either extradited or killed. Criminality on this scale-facilitating the importation of massive amounts of cocaine to the U.S. and the corruption of his country's police force-should be universally condemned," said Senator Welch. "Let's hope our next President uses the pardon power to correct manifest injustice as the framers intended, not to reward friends, cronies, and drug kingpins."

"Trump's pardon of Juan Orlando Hernández - a narcotrafficking kingpin who bragged about 'shoving the drugs up the noses of the gringos' as he flooded U.S. communities with more than 400 tons of cocaine - is disgusting," said Senator Kaine. "This pardon is so bizarre that it's difficult to fathom any reason why this would happen other than that someone in Trump's circle is personally benefitting from it. Convicted drug kingpins should be in prison, end of story."

"President Trump's pardoning of Juan Orlando Hernández, a known drug smuggling conspirator who was set to spend over 40 years in jail, is the latest abuse of pardon power by the president. By using the pardon power as a means of rewarding wealthy donors, family members, allies, benefiting himself personally, or in this case trying to influence the elections in Honduras, Trump is using the pardon power to commit injustice rather than correcting it," said Senator Schiff.

"Juan Orlando Hernández once boasted that he 'would stuff the drugs up the gringos' noses', he accepted a million-dollar bribe from El Chapo to allow cocaine shipments to pass through Honduras destined to the United States, had a man killed in prison to protect him, and orchestrated a vast trafficking conspiracy that prosecutors said raked in millions of dollars for cartels," said Senator Durbin. "Juan Orlando Hernández is the worst of the worst and the fact the President of the United States pardoned him is appalling. This is not an action by a President trying to keep America safe from narcotics. It is a strange understanding of his power that he would use this and not penalize those responsible for the narcotics coming into the United States."

"Trump and Republicans can't claim to be for protecting America's borders or getting tough on drugs and then turn around and release a convicted, notorious drug trafficker from U.S. prison. Setting free Juan Orlando Hernández sends the message that no crime against Americans is out of bounds as long as Trump and Republicans think they get a political benefit," said Senator Wyden.

Hernández was at the center of one of the largest and most violent drug-trafficking conspiracies in the world for nearly two decades. During his tenure as President of Honduras and in the Honduran National Congress, Hernández abused his positions and authority to facilitate the importation of over 400 tons of cocaine into the United States-enough for approximately 4.5 billion individual doses.

As President, Hernández also selectively supported and took credit for extraditions to the United States of certain drug traffickers who threatened his grip on power, including directing the Honduran National Police and military to protect smugglers who paid him off, promising that he would shield them from extradition to the United States. Hernández and his co-conspirators were convicted and sentenced to prison in the United States for their abuse of Honduran institutions to protect and grow their conspiracy.

The resolution is supported by Sens. Tim Kaine (D-VA.), Amy Klobuchar (D-MN), Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), Tammy Duckworth (D-IL), Brian Schatz (D-HI), Adam Schiff (D-CA), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Ron Wyden (D-OR) and John Fetterman (D-PA).

Read and download the full text of the resolution here.

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