Overview
- George Stephanopoulos repeatedly pressed the Missouri senator to say whether he backs pardoning Juan Orlando Hernandez.
- Schmitt said he was “not familiar with the facts or circumstances” when asked directly on ABC’s This Week.
- Hernandez was convicted in U.S. court of conspiring to traffic about 400 tons of cocaine into the United States, along with other offenses.
- Rather than address the pardon, Schmitt defended the administration’s actions against suspected narco-boats and attacked Democrats and the interviewer.
- Trump has defended the pardon by alleging the Biden Justice Department targeted Hernandez and by citing Hondurans who called the case a “setup.”