Overview
- White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and other senior officials received no advance notice of President Trump's pardon of Juan Orlando Hernández, according to the Wall Street Journal.
- Hernández, a former Honduran president, had been convicted in U.S. court of conspiring to smuggle roughly 400 tons of cocaine and was serving a 45-year sentence.
- Longtime ally Roger Stone advocated for clemency but told associates he was surprised by the speed of the decision and said he was not paid for his efforts.
- Trump later said he knew little about the case and echoed claims that the prosecution was a political setup, even as reporting noted a key prosecutor involved had ties to Trump.
- The episode reflects a wider clemency surge described by the Journal, with some high-profile pardons moving quickly and outside typical vetting processes.