{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/durbin-condemns-pardon-of-former-president-of-honduras", "Durbin Condemns Pardon Of Former President Of Honduras", "2025-12-02", "2025", "2025-12", "Democrat", "Senate", "IL", "Richard J. Durbin", "D000563", "www.durbin.senate.gov", "durbin", "https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases", "scraper", "Durbin: \u201cDonald Trump issued a full and unconditional pardon to [more than 1,500] people who stormed the Capitol. It comes as no surprise [that] when it comes to major drug traffickers like the former Honduran president, Donald Trump got out his pardon pen.\u201d\n\nWASHINGTON \u2013 In a speech on the Senate floor, U.S. Senate Democratic Whip Dick Durbin (D-IL), Ranking Member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, condemned President Trump\u2019s pardon of the former Honduran president, Juan Orlando Hern\u00e1ndez.\n\nDurbin began by outlining the horrendous conduct of Mr. Hern\u00e1ndez, a convicted drug trafficker.\n\n\u201cThe former president of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hern\u00e1ndez, was prosecuted by the federal government of the United States for his involvements in the trade in narcotics. He was found guilty of having been involved and sentenced to some 45 years in prison. He once boasted that he \u2018would stuff the drugs up the gringos\u2019 noses.\u2019 He accepted a million-dollar bribe from El Chapo to allow cocaine shipments to pass through Honduras destined to the United States. This former president, [President] Hern\u00e1ndez, had a man killed in prison to protect him. Honduras has become a bastion of the global drug trade. This former president, [President] Hern\u00e1ndez, orchestrated a vast trafficking conspiracy that prosecutors said raked in millions of dollars for cartels while making Honduras one of Central America\u2019s poorest, most violent, most corrupt countries. So, they prosecute him, find him guilty of selling narcotics through these cartels into the United States. Can you think of anyone more reprehensible than that? Selling drugs to this country, finding more victims by the day\u2026 Of course, it\u2019s terrible\u2026 so terrible that he was found guilty and sentenced to 45 years in prison,\u201d said Durbin.\n\n\u201cThen what happened? Well, you won't believe it. Donald Trump pulls out his pardon pen,\u201d continued Durbin.\n\nDurbin then highlighted the hypocrisy of this pardon, which forgives the crimes prosecuted by then-Assistant U.S. Attorney and now Trump-appointed U.S. Circuit Court Judge Emil Bove.\n\n\u201cWhen this man who was president of Honduras was facilitating the sale of narcotics in America, we thought so much of the effort to prosecute him that we assigned an assistant U.S. Attorney by the name of Emil Bove. Ring a bell? Emil Bove was chosen by President Trump to serve on [a] Circuit Court of the United States. He was approved by this chamber. I was at the hearing where he was considered. He was proud of the fact that he was \u2018tough on crime\u2019... so \u2018tough\u2019 that he helped to prosecute Hern\u00e1ndez and ended up seeing him sent to jail for so many years,\u201d continued Durbin.\n\n\u201cThen along comes President Trump with his pardon pen and releases Hern\u00e1ndez from jail. Releases him\u2026 after years and years of prosecution, evidence, and hard work, stopping this man who is facilitating the sale of narcotics in the United States\u2026 Hard to imagine, isn\u2019t it?\u201d continued Durbin.\n\nDurbin then extrapolated this instance to a repeated misuse of the presidential pardon power by President Trump to extend political favors to personal allies.\n\n\u201cIt isn\u2019t hard to imagine if you were here on January 6th and saw the insurrectionists come roaring through this Capitol, storm this chamber, and drive the Senate into recess, as we went to an adjoining building so that law enforcement could take over the situation. [More than 140] law enforcement officers were seriously injured, and several died as a result of their experience. It was a terrible day in the history of the United States,\u201d said Durbin.\n\n\u201cWhat did Donald Trump do as soon as he was re-elected president? He issued a full and unconditional pardon to [more than 1,500] people who stormed the Capitol. It comes as no surprise that when it comes to major drug traffickers like the former Honduran president, he got out his pardon pen and decided, because he had \u2018heard from so many friends,\u2019 President [Trump] said, he decided to pardon this man and release him. This is not an action by a President trying to keep America safe from narcotics. It is a strange understanding of his power that he would use this and not penalize those responsible for the narcotics coming into the United States,\u201d concluded Durbin.\n\nVideo of Durbin\u2019s opening statement is available here.\n\nAudio of Durbin\u2019s opening statement is available here.\n\nFootage of Durbin\u2019s opening statement is available herefor TV Stations.\n\n-30-", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-06T20:09:11Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://www.durbin.senate.gov/newsroom/press-releases/durbin-condemns-pardon-of-former-president-of-honduras"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.7733860295265913, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}