Trump’s pardons for drug traffickers and fraudsters is upending the justice system
It took dozens of special agents the best part of a decade to bring Juan Orlando Hernández to justice for flooding US cities with cocaine. Then, in a single social media post last week, Donald Trump set the former Honduran president free.
“People risked their lives for this investigation,” said a former agent at the US Drug Enforcement Administration, one of several law enforcement officials involved in tracking Hernández who voiced their frustration to the Financial Times. “Why are we taking a tough stance against [Venezuela’s] Nicolás Maduro . . . and letting this guy go?”
The pardon of Hernández is one of dozens issued by the US president over the past year to an array of convicted fraudsters, drug traffickers, tax evaders and unregistered foreign agents that have upended the American justice system and angered many within his own coalition.
In the space of a few months, Trump has pardoned or commuted the prison sentences of crypto billionaire and Binance founder Changpeng Zhao, who had pleaded guilty to a charge of failure to protect against money laundering; former Republican congressman George Santos, who was found guilty of fraud; and Michael McMahon, a former New York policeman convicted of helping China intimidate a dissident.
He has also pre-emptively pardoned Rudy Giuliani, Mark Meadows and dozens of other allies who have been accused of attempting to overturn the 2020 election.
Some of those pardoned have pledged political allegiance to Trump or have donated to his campaign. But others seem to have little in common with the president beyond a shared claim that courts are rigged and law enforcement has been “weaponised” against the innocent. [Continue reading…]