Pres Juan Orlando Hernández JOH

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LONG

Is this how Pardons work now?

HONDURAS GIL DURAN STONE AT MAL CRISH SOCIALISM AND SAVE FREEDOM CITY PROSPERA TECH BROS

11:12

disappearing people who take care of

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three-year-olds. Or what about Juan

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Orlando Hernandez, the former president

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of Honduras, who was serving a 45-year

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sentence for smuggling over 400 tons of

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cocaine into the US in what prosecutors

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called one of the largest and most

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violent drug trafficking conspiracies in

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the world. Well, he was pardoned in

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December of this year and is now going

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on right-wing podcasts like PBD. It's a

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long pod, okay? Sometimes you need a

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little boop boop. I mean, how else is

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Vinnie that redfaced? When Trump was

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asked about the pardon and its glaring

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hypocrisy for a so-called tough on crime

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president, he says he doesn't know him,

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but that people asked him to do it.

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You pardoned former Honduran President

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Juan Orlando Hernandez and let him out

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of prison even though he was convicted

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in a massive international drug

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trafficking scheme. How is that zero

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tolerance on drug trafficking? Well, I

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don't know him and I know very little

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about him other than people said it was

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like uh a Obama Biden type setup where

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he was set up. You know, a lot of people

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in Honduras asked me to do that and I

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did it. I feel very good about it.

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Yes, Mr. President. Quick followup.

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Which people told you he was set up?

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Which people told you to pardon him?

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Because curiously, Hernandez had spent

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years cozing up to the far right in the

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US and made himself a lot of friends.

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According to the Wall Street Journal, he

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forged a partnership with Kelsey Warren,

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a Texas energy billionaire and major

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Trump donor who owns a utility company

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in the country. Hernandez also helped

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propel the privatized city of Prosper in

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the country, a project in which Trump

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donors Peter Teal, Mark Andre, Sam

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Alman, and CEO of Coinbase Brian

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Armstrong are all heavily invested.

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Hernandez was their meal ticket. As Gil

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Duran writes, he championed special

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economic zones where investors could set

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their own tax, labor, and regulatory

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rules under long-term legal guarantees.

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However, when Hernandez's successor,

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Samara Castro, came into office, she

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rolled back the special economic zones.

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That made longtime Trump fixer Roger

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Stone write in January on his Substack.

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Yes, even cartoon villains are on

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Substack that Trump should crush

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socialism and save a freedom city known

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as Prosper. And indeed, it was Stone

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that met with Trump at Mara Lago and

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lobbyed him to pardon Hernandez. So yes,

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400 tons of cocaine are a-ok okay to

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enter the US. I mean, how else is

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Palanteer's Alexander Karp supposed to

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sit through an entire interview?

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Lot of decisions when we began talking

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annoying each other 10 years ago.

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Hopefully I'm annoying you as much as 10

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years ago. Uh or more uh when when when

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Sorry, did I say sit? I meant fly. Now,...

The Bitchuation Room (with Francesca Fiorentini)

242K subscribers

15,571 views Dec 28, 2025

In his first year in office of his second term, Trump has pardoned a whopping 2,000 criminals who have committed all kinds of horrible acts and are still menaces to society. We’re talking Jan 6 rioters who have abused children, killed people while driving drunk, and threatened other federal workers. Mind you, these are crimes they committed AFTER being pardoned! Surely they can expect new pardons for these crimes any day now, right?

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COKE IRAN CONTRA

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BIZZARELY SAME TIME AS 2X TAP BOAT STRIKE HEGS 12 25

Ben Shapiro criticizes Trump pardoning former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez: “I just don't understand the president's logic here”

12/02/25

### Newsmax host on Trump's threats against Venezuela: “If it was about drugs, he'd be in Mexico right now, right?”

12/02/25 12:15 PM EST

### Tim Pool: “Trump seems to be going a little bit into the neoliberal. You know, neocon-neoliberal.”

12/02/25 12:05 PM EST

### Roger Stone claims Trump announced pardon for Juan Orlando Hernández “three hours after” he sent Trump a letter from the former Honduran president

12/01/25

Roger Stone claims Trump announced pardon for Juan Orlando Hernández “three hours after” he sent Trump a letter from the former Honduran president

Ana García de Hernández to Stone: “We also want to express our helpful gratitude for the support that you had given … to my husband and the father of my daughters. Since you start speaking about this case, you made such a huge difference.”

Written by Media Matters Staff

Published 12/01/25

November 30, 2025

Audio

From the November 30, 2025, edition of WABC's The Roger Stone Show

ROGER STONE (HOST): For many months, at least six months, I have written extensively about the persecution of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who I believe was framed for drug trafficking on the basis of really no evidence whatsoever in a politically motivated act of lawfare by the Biden administration. These are the exact same tactics that were used against President Donald Trump himself by the illicit and unconstitutional investigation of Jack Smith. And I had great sympathy for President Hernández, who was framed not because there was evidence that he was actually involved in drug trafficking, but framed to get him out of the way to make way for the narco-Marxist regime to take power in Honduras. There's an election in Honduras today, but that's not what I'm really here to talk about.

On Friday, I got from the investigative journalist Shane Trejo a letter that President Hernández wrote to President Trump. It was a extraordinarily compelling nine-page letter, which frankly broke my heart because I have been where President Hernández was. I know what it is to be persecuted and have the full power and the unlimited financial and legal capacity of a corrupted, politicized Justice Department come after you, as well as the complicity of the mainstream media who never wants to pick apart the charges against him and just takes everything for granted.

...

STONE: I was delighted about three hours after I sent a copy of this letter to President Trump to read on Truth Social that he had announced the full and unconditional pardon for Juan Orlando Hernández. I think this is fitting. This is justice. Now the [unintelligible] — the US-based media has gone completely insane because they refuse to look at the facts regarding the persecution and trial of Juan Orlando Hernández. And to them, they say, “Well, why is Trump pursuing the Venezuelan dictatorship over drug trafficking at the same time that he's releasing a drug trafficker?” To which I say, there is no shred of evidence other than the testimony of convicted drug traffickers, people that Juan Orlando Hernández himself's government prosecuted, that would tie the former president to drug trafficking. He is an innocent man who was a target and victim of lawfare. And anyone who will examine his trial and the charges against him and the sham trial that they ran in New York would realize that.

Joining us now is the former first lady of Honduras, Ana García de Hernández, President Hernández's daughter, Ana Daniela Hernández, and his other daughter, Isabella Hernández. I want to welcome you to The Roger Stone Show, and I want to tell you how incredibly proud I am to have played just a small role in the justice that has now been meted out for your father and for your country and for your family.

...

ANA GARCÍA DE HERNÁNDEZ (FORMER HONDURAN FIRST LADY): Oh, thank you, Mr. Stone. This is Ana. We are so grateful because of what’s happening to our family. We’d like to say thank you for you for hosting us on your radio show today. It’s truly a pleasure speaking with you.

We also want to express our helpful gratitude for the support that you had given to our — to my husband and the father of my daughters. Since you start speaking about this case, you made such a huge difference. Because as you say, you suffered the same that my husband is suffering or was suffering before President Trump decided to give him a full pardon. So thank you, because — thank you to your efforts, in part Juan Orlando would be [unintelligible] free man, an innocent man has been pardoned and will finally be reunited with our family. So we are really deeply grateful with that.

A comprehensive guide to Trump ally Roger Stone, a racist, sexist conspiracy theorist

05/09/16

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BBC

Juan Orlando Hernández, the former president of Honduras, has walked free after President Donald Trump pardoned the man once characterised as the key figure in a drug trafficking scheme that flooded America with over 400 tonnes of cocaine.

Trump has said that Hernández, who was sentenced to 45 years in prison by a US court, is a victim of political persecution and has been "treated very harshly and unfairly".

The pardon has surprised some experts, given the seriousness of the crime and the administration's promised crackdown on illegal drugs flowing into the US.

Here is a look at Hernández's political career and crimes, and why Trump may have pardoned him.

400 tonnes of cocaine and a $1m bribe from El Chapo

Hernández first ran for president of Honduras, a country of 10 million people, in 2013 as the candidate for the conservative National Party. He ran again in 2017, in an election marred by fraud allegations and violent protests.

Throughout his two terms, he maintained a cordial relationship with the US. Former President Barack Obama called him one of the "excellent partners" on the migrant-children crisis, and Trump backed him as the winner of the disputed 2017 vote.

But Hernández's fortunes began to unravel in 2019.

US federal prosecutors accused him of accepting a $1m bribe from notorious drug lord Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán for his first presidential campaign in exchange for protecting narcotics routes through Honduras.

The allegations surfaced in a separate case involving his brother, Juan Antonio "Tony" Hernández, who was arrested in Miami in 2018 on charges of smuggling cocaine into the US. At the time, the then-president denied any involvement in his brother's crimes.

Tony Hernández was convicted in 2019 and sentenced to life in prison.

But the end of his brother's trial marked only the beginning of the ex-president's legal troubles.

Shortly after leaving office in 2022, he was arrested and extradited to the US on drug-trafficking and related weapons charges.

Reuters

Hernández was arrested, handcuffed and escorted to a US-bound plane in 2022 to face federal charges of drug trafficking.

Hernández's federal trial lasted three weeks in 2024.

US prosecutors argued that he was a central figure in a more than 18-year-long drug-trafficking scheme that funnelled over 400 tonnes of cocaine into the US - equivalent to roughly 4.5 billion individual doses.

"The people of Honduras and the United States bore the consequences," said then-attorney general Merrick Garland.

Prosecutors detailed how Hernández abused office by shielding drug traffickers armed with machine guns and grenade launchers. In exchange, he received millions of dollars to fuel his political campaigns.

Multiple branches of the state were involved, including the Honduran National Police, who protected cocaine shipments as they moved through Honduras to the US for distribution, prosecutors said.

In some cases, the drug traffickers associated with Hernández committed violent crimes and murders to quell rival gangs and grow their enterprise, they said.

During sentencing, Hernández insisted he was the victim of "political persecution".

"The prosecutors and agents did not do the due diligence in the investigation to know the whole TRUTH," he wrote in a letter following his conviction.

Trump: Hernández conviction was a 'Biden setup'

Trump announced the pardon on Friday in a Truth Social post, writing that, according to "many people that I greatly respect", Hernández had been unfairly treated by prosecutors.

In the same post, he also endorsed Tito Asfura for president of Honduras ahead of Sunday's election. Asfura ran under the same National Party ticket as Hernández.

As of Tuesday, preliminary results show the election is too close to call, forcing a hand recount of ballots.

Trump's endorsement of Asfura wasn't surprising to many, given the right-leaning National Party's ideological alignment with the current US administration.

Trump has also weighed in on the politics of other countries in the Western Hemisphere, like Brazil and Argentina.

"We've seen the President's affinity with leaders on the right that he sees as being favourable to some of interests of his administration," noted Jason Marczak, vice-president and senior director at the Atlantic Council's Adrienne Arsht Latin America Center.

But the decision to pardon Hernández simultaneously stunned some experts.

"It was hard for me to believe, because there was such an overwhelming case against Hernández," said Michael Shifter, an adjunct professor at the Center for Latin American Studies at Georgetown University.

Mr Shifter added that what he found more puzzling was the "contradiction" between the pardon and Trump's declared policy of clamping down on drug trafficking.

Trump has repeatedly pledged to curb the flow of drugs into the US, and carried out highly controversial strikes on boats in the waters around Venezuela that his administration says are piloted by drug traffickers.

More than 80 people have been killed in a number of strikes in the Caribbean Sea since early September.

Images

While pardoning Hernández, Trump endorsed Tito Asfura for president of Honduras.

At the White House briefing on Monday, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt argued that charges against Hernández were tainted by corrupt "over-prosecution" under President Biden.

Asked if the pardon undermined the US president's campaign against "narco-terrorists" on the American continent, Leavitt said the aim was to "correct the wrongs" of the justice department under Biden.

"I think president trump has been quite clear in his defense of the United States homeland to stop these illegal narcotics from coming to our borders whether that is by land or by sea," Leavitt added.

US media outlet Axios later reported that Hernández penned a four-page letter in October praising President Trump, and requesting a review of his case "in the interest of justice".

In the letter, he reportedly recalled the working relationship he and Trump had during the US president's first term, and said his case "advanced only because the Biden-Harris DOJ pursued a political agenda to empower its ideological allies in Honduras".

The outlet also reported that Roger Stone, a lobbyist and long-time Trump advisor, had told the US president that a pardon for Hernández would energise the National Party ahead of the Honduran election.

Trump subsequently told reporters on Sunday that he believed the ex-president's prosecution "was a Biden setup".

Mr Marczak of the Atlantic Council noted that the prosecution of Hernández was the result of an independent investigation by the US justice department.

But he added that the decision to pardon Hernández was in line with the Trump administration's "willingness to question decisions made during the Biden presidency".

## Honduran ex-president Juan Orlando Hernández released from US prison after Trump pardon

## Honduras presidential candidates locked in 'technical tie', official says

## Honduras ex-president gets 45 years for drug crimes

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Juan Orlando Hernandez

Lawyer and former President of Honduras

El Tribunal Superior Electoral de Honduras declara al presidente Juan Orlando Hernández ganador de las polémicas elecciones mientras la OEA pide repetir los comicios - BBC News Mundo

Source: BBC

Social Media Result Image

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@juanorlandoh

Instagram

God is good. Thank God. We received the incredible news that our father and husband, Former President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernández, will be pardoned by President Trump. From the bottom of our hearts, thank you, @potus You have changed our lives. For almost four years, we have fought every single day to prove that Juan Orlando is an innocent man who was set up by the radical left and the deep ...

24 hours ago

Age

57 years

Oct 28, 1968

Party

National Party of Honduras

Social Media Result Image

Juan Orlando Hernández

Facebook

Declaraciones de Karoline Leavitt, Secretaria de prensa de la Casa Blanca sobre el Perdon Presidencial otorgado al ex Presidente Juan Orlando Hernández #inocente #volvera #DAMQSI

14 hours ago

Juan Orlando Hernández

Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Juan_Orlando_Hernán...

4 hours ago — Juan Orlando Hernández Alvarado also known by his initials JOH, is a Honduran lawyer, former politician and convicted drug trafficker who served as the 38th ...

Tony Hernández

Porfirio Lobo Sosa

Ana García Carías