U.S. President Donald Trump gestures throughout a press convention following a U.S. strike on Venezuela the place President Nicolas Maduro and his spouse, Cilia Flores, had been captured, from Trump’s Mar-a-Lago membership in Palm Seashore, Florida, U.S., January 3, 2026.
Jonathan Ernst | Reuters
The Trump administration is going through renewed questions over its latest pardon of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez after the U.S. captured Venezuelan chief Nicolas Maduro on Saturday and charged him with crimes associated to drug trafficking.
Hernandez in 2024 was convicted of conspiring with drug traffickers and utilizing his authorities place to assist lots of of tons of cocaine enter the USA. He was sentenced to 45 years in jail.
President Donald Trump pardoned Hernandez in November, saying in a submit to his Fact Social account that he had been “handled very harshly and unfairly.”
Maduro was charged with narco-terrorism conspiracy, together with 4 different fees: cocaine importation conspiracy; possession of machine weapons and damaging gadgets; and conspiracy to own machine weapons and damaging gadgets.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Sunday was pressed on the obvious contradiction of Hernandez’ pardon now that the U.S. is in search of comparable fees in opposition to Maduro, one other head of state of a South American nation with ties to the drug commerce.
“I do not do the pardon file, I am not in opposition to it or for it, I did not overview the file, so I can not communicate to you concerning the dynamics that led the president to make the choice that he made,” Rubio mentioned on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
“He reviewed the file, he went by way of the arguments in it and he felt that the previous president of Honduras was handled very unfairly by the earlier administration,” Rubio mentioned.
Rubio mentioned that “whether or not you agree with that call or not … that does not imply you allow Maduro in place.”
“The reply to that, whether or not you’ve got an issue with it or not, is to not go away in play somebody who has been indicted who hasn’t even confronted American justice but,” Rubio mentioned.
Trump’s pardon of Hernandez was already below intense scrutiny earlier than Maduro’s ouster. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the rating member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, mentioned in a press release that the “hypocrisy underlying this resolution is very obvious.”
“This similar president lately pardoned former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was convicted in a U.S. court docket on critical drug trafficking fees, together with conspiring with narcotics traffickers whereas in workplace,” Warner mentioned. “But now, the administration claims that comparable allegations justify the usage of army pressure in opposition to one other sovereign nation. You can not credibly argue that drug trafficking fees demand invasion in a single case, whereas issuing a pardon in one other.”
At a press convention on Saturday after Maduro’s seize, Trump was pressed on the pardon. He mentioned Hernandez was “persecuted very unfairly.”
“He was handled just like the Biden administration handled a person named Trump,” Trump mentioned, referring to his personal felony prosecutions for allegedly hoarding categorized paperwork and making an attempt to overturn the 2020 election after leaving workplace following his first time period as president.
Trump additionally cited his endorsement of Nasry Asfura, the president-elect of Honduras, as one more reason for the pardon.
“He is additionally a celebration member of the person who received, so clearly the individuals preferred what I did,” Trump mentioned. “And one of many causes that was carried out is due to the truth that the get together in energy felt very strongly that that man was handled very badly.”
Trump additionally gestured at Rubio and different members of his nationwide safety workforce when explaining why he issued the pardon.
“I went to quite a lot of the individuals standing behind me, and so they felt that that man was persecuted and handled very badly,” he mentioned.
