Democrats have dissolved into a huge meltdown over the Trump administration’s military strikes on the drug cartel boats in the Caribbean, and are even accusing War Secretary Pete Hegseth of committing war crime for a second strike on a drug boat which killed two drug traffickers who had survived the first strike.
However, the same Democrats are now up in arms over President Trump issuing a pardon to former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernández, after he only served one year of a 45-year sentence for his alleged role in a huge drug trafficking operation.
President Trump says he looked at the case and agreed that the charges against Hernández was a “set up” by the Biden administration. Trump said just because Hernández was the president doesn’t mean he was involved in the drug trafficking operation.
Democrats are accusing Trump of hypocrisy, lamenting that he is blaming Venezuelan president Nicholas Maduro for sending drugs to the United States.
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer blasted out a video slamming Trump for pardoning Hernández.
“Trump just pardoned Juan Orlando Hernandez, the former President of Honduras convicted of trafficking 400 tons of cocaine to the United States,” he raged.
Trump just pardoned Juan Orlando Hernandez, the former President of Honduras convicted of trafficking 400 tons of cocaine to the United States. pic.twitter.com/jQ4m0RVdd7
— Chuck Schumer (@SenSchumer) December 2, 2025
Democrat Sen. Mark Kelly (AZ) claimed “If Trump wants to stop drug traffickers, why did he just pardon the guy convicted in one of the biggest narco cases in U.S. history?”
If Trump wants to stop drug traffickers, why did he just pardon the guy convicted in one of the biggest narco cases in U.S. history? pic.twitter.com/OulrjlXigH
— Senator Mark Kelly (@SenMarkKelly) December 2, 2025
Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) fumed, “Trump’s pardon of drug kingpin Juan Orlando Hernández—who allegedly said he wanted to “shove the drugs right up the noses of the gringos” by flooding the U.S. with cocaine—is disgusting. Trump isn’t serious about protecting the U.S. from drug trafficking.”
Trump’s pardon of drug kingpin Juan Orlando Hernández—who allegedly said he wanted to “shove the drugs right up the noses of the gringos” by flooding the U.S. with cocaine—is disgusting. Trump isn’t serious about protecting the U.S. from drug trafficking. https://t.co/Ld6V9Yj9ji
— Senator Tim Kaine (@SenTimKaine) December 2, 2025
Journalist Ben Norton blasted out the following statement:
Donald Trump has officially pardoned and released one of the worst drug traffickers on Earth. Juan Orlando Hernández (known as JOH) was the US-backed right-wing dictator of Honduras.
JOH was convicted — by a US court! — of trafficking more than 400 tons of cocaine (and machine guns). He personally collaborated with El Chapo Guzmán.
Ironically, although JOH was a close US ally, his drug-trafficking operations were so enormous and had such a big (and negative) impact on US society that the US Justice Department started investigating JOH during Trump’s first term, when JOH was still the dictator of Honduras.
JOH came to power after the US government supported a right-wing military coup against Honduras’ democratically elected left-wing president in 2009. (That was under Obama and Hillary Clinton. US imperialism is bipartisan.) Washington then propped up two corrupt right-wing coup regimes in Honduras, which were run by drug dealers.
Why did Trump release JOH now? Because the US empire lost control over Honduras in 2022, when the left-wing Libre Party came to power. So Trump and Marco Rubio have been openly meddling in Honduras’ 2025 election, to put the right-wing National Party back in power. The National Party was JOH’s party. It works closely with drug cartels.
It is impossible to overstate the hypocrisy of the US empire. The US supports the worst drug lords in Latin America.
Meanwhile, Trump justifies his criminal war of aggression against Venezuela based on the absurd lie that he is “fighting drug cartels” — while he openly supports the worst drug lords alive.
Washington’s closest allies in Latin America are and have long been drug traffickers:
– Honduras’ JOH
– Colombia’s Álvaro Uribe
– Ecuador’s Daniel Noboa (and his oligarch father Álvaro Noboa)
– Mexico’s Felipe Calderón (whose security chief Genaro García Luna was a drug trafficker)
– Argentina’s Javier Milei’s drug-linked allies (like José Luis Espert)
– the CIA’s Nicaraguan Contras
Donald Trump has officially pardoned and released one of the worst drug traffickers on Earth.
Juan Orlando Hernández (known as JOH) was the US-backed right-wing dictator of Honduras.
JOH was convicted — by a US court! — of trafficking more than 400 tons of cocaine (and… pic.twitter.com/TC2DX340ev
— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) December 2, 2025
PARDON PLAY: Ex-Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández released from U.S. prison after President Donald Trump’s pardon as the Central American nation’s contested election remains undecided.https://t.co/03CkV5peUg
— Fox News (@FoxNews) December 2, 2025
NEWS ALERT: Former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernández freed after Trump pardon
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