The Drug-Crime Pardons Trump Hoped You’d Miss in 2025
I’m heading into depositions, but before I go I need to get this off my chest, because Trump’s 2025 drug-offender pardons tell a story no one’s talking about.
In 2025, Trump has granted clemency to 100 people accused of serious drug crimes during his time in office. He has also granted 90 pardons and commutations to drug-related convictions.
One that stands out is his pardon of the Juan Hernandez, the former president of Honduras convicted and sentenced to 45 years in prison for flooding America with 400 tons of cocaine. I warned you about the Hernandez pardon a few days before it happened in this post.
Another pardon I haven’t seen too many people talk about is Trump’s pardon of Ross Ulbricht, the founder of Silk Road which was a dark-web marketplace facilitating significant illegal drug sales and other illicit transactions. Ulbricht was serving a life sentence before Trump let him walk.
I’ll be checking in later today and between now and then, I’m interested in what you think these choices reveal about Trump’s real priorities? If you were a reporter in an Oval Office press briefing, what one question about these pardons would you ask Trump, and why?
I want to hear what you think, and I’ll jump into the comments later today with my take.
Mitch Jackson, Esq.
Just follow the money trail. Somewhere, somehow, bribes and/or other dark money exchanged hands between the Trumpies & their drug-dealing associates who've been pardoned. The blatant hypocrisy of it all, while he murders so-called drug dealers near Venezuela just again demonstrates the gangsterism of this regime. Same as it ever was...
OK. Back in the office (and yes, the depositions went well). I think that taken together, these pardons reveal a pattern that puts power over principle and loyalty over the rule of law. Trump’s clemency choices favor high impact drug traffickers and facilitators while thousands of lower level offenders remain imprisoned under the very tough on crime policies he continues to promote. This all about control, spectacle, and rewarding narratives that serve his personal and political interests.
As for the question I'd ask on this topic, it would be something like: “How do you justify pardoning major drug traffickers and facilitators while continuing to promote a tough on crime message that has sent thousands of lower level, nonviolent offenders to prison, and what standard, if any, are you using to decide who deserves mercy?”
After he insults me and tells me how great he is without answering my question, I'd respond with:
"I'm a tax paying American. You work for me and every other person in this room. You work for every American watching this press conference. None of us work for you. So, dumbass, answer the damn question."
I think this approach would go over well.