Leader Schumer Floor Remarks Calling Out Donald Trump’s Hypocrisy In Pardoning Former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez

Washington, D.C. – Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) today spoke on the Senate floor slamming President Trump’s hypocritical decision to pardon the former President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was convicted of drug trafficking, all while putting a quarter of our military in the Caribbean to fight drug trafficking. Below are Senator Schumer’s remarks, which can also be viewed here:

I want to begin with a truly disgusting and alarming piece of news the American people got this morning. This morning, the former President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, was released from prison after Donald Trump gave him a pardon.

We all know Trump does a lot of hypocritical things—almost every day there is hypocrisy oozing from the White House—but pardoning one of the world’s biggest drug traffickers is egregious, shameful, and dangerous even for Donald Trump. It would be bad enough on its own for Donald Trump to pardon this horrible drug trafficker, but for him to pardon this drug lord while putting a quarter of our military in the Caribbean, right near Honduras, to fight drug trafficking makes an utter mockery of Donald Trump’s supposed desire to root out all drug trafficking.

Let’s be clear of the facts: the person Donald Trump just pardoned was convicted of helping move 400 tons of cocaine to the United States, all while Trump blows up alleged drug boats to prevent drugs from getting to America and risks leapfrogging the U.S. into war with Venezuela.

You can’t have it both ways, Mr. President: You can’t talk a big game about hunting down drug traffickers, and getting drugs off our streets, and then turn around and free a dangerous, convicted drug lord. That sends a message to other criminals—suck up to Trump, and you’ll get a pardon no matter how many boatloads of drugs you pump into our streets. Even one Trump adviser admitted that “how we justify this is really hard.”

Trump’s pardon reeks of hypocrisy, it reeks of corruption, which is the M.O. of the Trump administration.

###