On Air Force One, a reporter asked President Donald Trump about his plan to pardon former Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was convicted in a U.S. federal court and sentenced to 45 years in prison for drug trafficking.
When asked, “You have made so clear how you want to keep drugs out of the US. Can you explain more about why you would pardon a notorious drug trafficker?” Trump replied, “Well, I don’t know who you are talking about. Which one?”
[Note: Trump has not been said to be presently considering pardoning more than one notorious drug trafficker, though critics targeted some of his other pardons for enabling drug trafficking. Congresswoman Maxine Waters (D-CA) said in October that “Trump’s pardon of Binance founder Changpeng Zhao—who pleaded guilty to enabling money laundering and facilitating suspicious transactions with child abusers, drug dealers, and terrorists—is an appalling but unsurprising reflection of his presidency.”]
Reporter: You have made so clear how you want to keep drugs out of the US—
Trump: Right
Reporter: Can you explain why you would pardon a notorious drug trafficker?
Trump: I don’t know who you are talking about
Reporter: Juan Orlando Hernandez
Trump: Many of the people of… pic.twitter.com/irI1Ce5Ued
— Acyn (@Acyn) November 30, 2025
When the reporter clarified that the question referred to the former Honduras President Hernandez, Trump replied, “Well, I was told, I was asked by Honduras, many of the people of Honduras, they said it was a Biden setup.”
Trump added, “The people of Honduras really thought he was set up and it was a terrible thing. And he was the president of the country. And they basically said he was a drug dealer because he was the president of the country.” He repeated his assertion that it was a Biden administration setup, adding “and I looked at the facts and agreed with them.”
When asked for evidence that it was a setup, the President said: “You can take any country you want, if somebody sells drugs in that country, that doesn’t mean you arrest the president and put him in jail for the rest of his life.”
Note: In March 2024, after a two-week trial in the United States which included witnesses testifying that they saw Hernandez received bribes from the former Sinaloa cartel head Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, a jury found Hernández guilty on three counts of drug trafficking and weapons conspiracy. In June 2024, he was sentenced to 45 years of prison. (When extradited to the U.S., Hernández said he was innocent and that he had been set up by drug traffickers.)
U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA) responded to Trump’s pardon: “Why would we pardon this guy and then go after [Venezuela President Nicolás] Maduro for running drugs into the United States? Lock up every drug runner! Don’t understand why he is being pardoned.”
Why would we pardon this guy and then go after Maduro for running drugs into the United States? Lock up every drug runner! Don’t understand why he is being pardoned.https://t.co/o6Owzskkca
— U.S. Senator Bill Cassidy, M.D. (@SenBillCassidy) November 30, 2025
Democrats are replying to Cassidy on social media with sarcasm including influencer Jo Carducci who replied, “Have you tried calling your Senator? Oh wait.” Another wrote: “Why? Because you’ve ceded absolute authority to a person who doesn’t care about your opinion, either personally or as a U.S. senator.”
Liberal influencer “Turnbull” replied with a GIF of Homer Simpson giving cash to a man in a business suit (below) and wrote: “You know why, Senator. That you don’t want to say it is your own problem.”
You know why, Senator. That you don’t want to say it is your own problem. pic.twitter.com/ZyfabUk5pL
— Turnbull (@cturnbull1968) December 1, 2025