‘Trump is now doing their bidding’: Journalists say they know why trafficker got pardon
Alexander Willis
November 30, 2025
RAW STORY
FILE PHOTO: Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump gestures at the Bitcoin 2024 event in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S., July 27, 2024. REUTERS/Kevin Wurm/File Photo/File Photo
President Donald Trump has been hammered over his recent pardon of a convicted Honduran drug trafficker, with the president being pressed for an explanation as his administration escalates military pressure on Venezuela over alleged narcotics trafficking. But on Sunday, two journalists said they’ve uncovered the real reason behind the move.
On Friday, Trump said he plans to pardon Juan Orlando Hernández, former president of Honduras and convicted drug trafficker who, according to court testimony, planned to “stuff the drugs right up the noses of the gringos.”
The move comes amid Trump declaring Venezuela’s air space to be closed, ongoing strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug-carrying sea vessels, and the deployment of an aircraft carrier strike group to Venezuela’s coast – all with the purported aim of combating drug trafficking.
While Republican lawmakers have struggled to reconcile Trump’s war on drugs with his pardoning of a major drug trafficker, journalist Pedro Gonzalez said recently that he believes he’s figured out the reason.
“There’s a 90% chance Trump wants to pardon Juan Orlando Hernández, the former president of Honduras, who was convicted for his role in a major drug trafficking enterprise, because he is connected to people like Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen and the rest of the tech bro morons,” wrote Chronicles Magazine correspondent Gonzalez in a recent social media post on X.
Thiel and Andreessen – two billionaire tech industry giants that hold major influence over the Trump administration – are both strong backers of Honduran Zones for Employment and Economic Development, or ZEDEs, a proposal for a type of autonomous city or area with its own administrative and political system operating on libertarian principles.
Hernández was a supporter and promoter ZEDEs, which Gonzalez – tying the two topics together – suspects is the primary reason for Trump’s unprecedented and poorly timed pardon of the convicted drug trafficker.
“Let’s be very clear: the narco dictator Trump is pardoning was beloved by the crypto world for creating lawless, sovereign zones for tech utopias organized around crypto,” wrote journalist Ryan Grim in a social media post on X. “The current [government] moved to shut them down. The crypto class fought back and Trump is now doing their bidding.”
FILE PHOTO: Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump gestures at the Bitcoin 2024 event in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S., July 27, 2024. REUTERS/Kevin Wurm/File Photo/File Photo
President Donald Trump has been hammered over his recent pardon of a convicted Honduran drug trafficker, with the president being pressed for an explanation as his administration escalates military pressure on Venezuela over alleged narcotics trafficking. But on Sunday, two journalists said they’ve uncovered the real reason behind the move.
On Friday, Trump said he plans to pardon Juan Orlando Hernández, former president of Honduras and convicted drug trafficker who, according to court testimony, planned to “stuff the drugs right up the noses of the gringos.”
The move comes amid Trump declaring Venezuela’s air space to be closed, ongoing strikes on suspected Venezuelan drug-carrying sea vessels, and the deployment of an aircraft carrier strike group to Venezuela’s coast – all with the purported aim of combating drug trafficking.
While Republican lawmakers have struggled to reconcile Trump’s war on drugs with his pardoning of a major drug trafficker, journalist Pedro Gonzalez said recently that he believes he’s figured out the reason.
“There’s a 90% chance Trump wants to pardon Juan Orlando Hernández, the former president of Honduras, who was convicted for his role in a major drug trafficking enterprise, because he is connected to people like Peter Thiel and Marc Andreessen and the rest of the tech bro morons,” wrote Chronicles Magazine correspondent Gonzalez in a recent social media post on X.
Thiel and Andreessen – two billionaire tech industry giants that hold major influence over the Trump administration – are both strong backers of Honduran Zones for Employment and Economic Development, or ZEDEs, a proposal for a type of autonomous city or area with its own administrative and political system operating on libertarian principles.
Hernández was a supporter and promoter ZEDEs, which Gonzalez – tying the two topics together – suspects is the primary reason for Trump’s unprecedented and poorly timed pardon of the convicted drug trafficker.
“Let’s be very clear: the narco dictator Trump is pardoning was beloved by the crypto world for creating lawless, sovereign zones for tech utopias organized around crypto,” wrote journalist Ryan Grim in a social media post on X. “The current [government] moved to shut them down. The crypto class fought back and Trump is now doing their bidding.”
'A Biden setup': Trump doubles down on pardon for drug trafficker
Ewan Gleadow
December 1, 2025
Donald Trump disembarks Air Force One after the G7 Summit in Canada.
December 1, 2025
Donald Trump disembarks Air Force One after the G7 Summit in Canada.
REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Donald Trump says a convicted drug trafficker will receive the presidential pardon, doubling down on a statement made two days ago.
The president made it clear he would issue a "full and complete pardon" to former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was convicted of drug trafficking last year. He was sentenced to 45 years in U.S. federal prison for helping move massive quantities of cocaine into the United States.
Trump announced the plan to pardon Hernandez on Friday, and speaking with reporters on Air Force One on Sunday, confirmed the plan to pardon the former president would go ahead. Trump even referred to the arrest and subsequent charge of Hernandez as "a Biden setup", The Daily Beast reported.
He said, "Well, I was told—I was asked by Honduras, many of the people of Honduras, they said it was a Biden setup. He was the president of the country. And they basically said he was a drug dealer because he was the president of the country."
Hernandez was extradited to the U.S. in 2022 and sentenced in a New York federal courtroom two years later for taking bribes from drug traffickers to move “well over approximately 4.5 billion individual doses of cocaine.”
But Trump has since insisted that the people of Honduras believe Hernandez was set up, and that he "agreed" with them. He added, "He was the president of the country, and they basically said he was a drug dealer because he was the president of the country, and they said it was a Biden administration setup. And I looked at the facts, and I agreed with that."
When pushed to share evidence of Hernandez's innocence, Trump replied, "They could say that you 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. That includes this country."
Earlier this week, Trump passed comment on the Honduras elections, calling on people to "vote for Tito Asfura" and even congratulated Hernandez on his "upcoming pardon".
He wrote, "This cannot be allowed to happen, especially now, after Tito Asfura wins the Election, when Honduras will be on its way to Great Political and Financial Success.
"VOTE FOR TITO ASFURA FOR PRESIDENT, AND CONGRATULATIONS TO JUAN ORLANDO HERNANDEZ ON YOUR UPCOMING PARDON."
Donald Trump says a convicted drug trafficker will receive the presidential pardon, doubling down on a statement made two days ago.
The president made it clear he would issue a "full and complete pardon" to former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez, who was convicted of drug trafficking last year. He was sentenced to 45 years in U.S. federal prison for helping move massive quantities of cocaine into the United States.
Trump announced the plan to pardon Hernandez on Friday, and speaking with reporters on Air Force One on Sunday, confirmed the plan to pardon the former president would go ahead. Trump even referred to the arrest and subsequent charge of Hernandez as "a Biden setup", The Daily Beast reported.
He said, "Well, I was told—I was asked by Honduras, many of the people of Honduras, they said it was a Biden setup. He was the president of the country. And they basically said he was a drug dealer because he was the president of the country."
Hernandez was extradited to the U.S. in 2022 and sentenced in a New York federal courtroom two years later for taking bribes from drug traffickers to move “well over approximately 4.5 billion individual doses of cocaine.”
But Trump has since insisted that the people of Honduras believe Hernandez was set up, and that he "agreed" with them. He added, "He was the president of the country, and they basically said he was a drug dealer because he was the president of the country, and they said it was a Biden administration setup. And I looked at the facts, and I agreed with that."
When pushed to share evidence of Hernandez's innocence, Trump replied, "They could say that you 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. That includes this country."
Earlier this week, Trump passed comment on the Honduras elections, calling on people to "vote for Tito Asfura" and even congratulated Hernandez on his "upcoming pardon".
He wrote, "This cannot be allowed to happen, especially now, after Tito Asfura wins the Election, when Honduras will be on its way to Great Political and Financial Success.
"VOTE FOR TITO ASFURA FOR PRESIDENT, AND CONGRATULATIONS TO JUAN ORLANDO HERNANDEZ ON YOUR UPCOMING PARDON."
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