Former Top DEA Official Says Trump's Campaign Against Drug Traffickers Is a 'Charade': 'Based on Hypocrisy'

A former top Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) official said the anti drug-trafficking campaign being conducted by the Trump administration is a "charade" and "based on lies."

"It's all hypocritical," former DEA chief for international operations Mike Vigil told The Guardian following the pardon to former Honduran President, Juan Orlando Hernandez, who had been sentenced to 45 years in prison after being found guilty of drug-trafficking.

Vigil claimed that Hernandez was a "big fish in the narco world," helping turn Honduras into a large transit point for cocaine heading to the U.S. "When you take a look at Pablo Escobar and [Joaquín] 'El Chapo' Guzmán, they were big drug traffickers – but they were never presidents of a country," Vigil said.

"So if Donald Trump is giving this guy a pardon, why is he not giving Chapo Guzmán a pardon? El ​Chapo Guzmán is less of a figure in the drug world than Juan Orlando Hernández was," he added.

Hernandez sent a letter to Donald Trump calling him "your excellency" to praise him before securing a pardon, according to a new report.

Axios published the letter, which Hernandez sent from prison, telling Trump he "found strength" in Trump. "Your resilience to get back in that great office notwithstanding the persecution and prosecution you faced," he added.

Hernandez went on to say that his case "advanced only because the Biden-Harris DOJ pursued a political agenda to empower its ideological allies in Honduras" and that he didn't have efficient legal representation.

His efforts were also aided by longtime operator Roger Stone, who said Hernandez was a victim of leftist "lawfare" both in his country and in the U.S. Hernandez was released from the West Virginia prison he was staying in on Tuesday.

Trump defended pardoning Hernandez. Speaking to press aboard the Air Force One, Trump was asked why he would "pardon a notorious drug trafficker." "The people of Honduras really thought he was set up. He was the president of the country and they basically said he was a drug dealer because he was the president of the country. They said it was a Biden administration setup and I looked at the facts and I agreed with them," Trump claimed.

Asked about the facts he was referring to, he said: "You take any country you want. If someone sells drug in that country that doesn't mean you arrest the president and put him in jail for the rest of his life," he added.

• Former Honduran President Sent a Letter To Trump Calling Him 'Your Excellency' To Secure a Pardon
• Trump Defends Pardoning Former Honduran President Convicted Of Drug Trafficking: 'The People of Honduras Really Thought He Was Set Up'

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