President Donald Trump has issued four new pardons this week, including to a former governor of Puerto Rico and a former FBI agent who pleaded guilty in a political corruption case.
The pardons, which were not previously reported, were supported by people with close ties to the Trump orbit, according to The New York Times.
A White House official told Newsweek that the pardons were issued because they are believed to be examples of “political prosecution.”
Why It Matters
Trump has made extensive use of his power of presidential pardon, including the notable clemency granted to about 1,500 individuals convicted in connection with the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Trump even granted a pardon to former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who was serving 45 years after being convicted of moving 400 tons of cocaine to the United States. Some critics contended the pardon was politically motivated, as Trump threatened to issue it depending on the results of the Honduran elections held late last year.
The president has at times argued that his pardons are granted in cases where he believes the sentence was too harsh or the crime was misapplied to the individuals in question.
What To Know
Three of the individuals named in the pardons by the Times were scheduled to be sentenced this month in a political corruption case: Venezuelan-Italian banker Julio Herrera Velutini, former Puerto Rican Governor Wanda Vázquez, and former FBI agent Mark Rossini.
Vázquez was convicted of participating in a bribery scheme with a number of people from December 2019 to June 2020 in an effort to finance her 2020 gubernatorial election campaign. The Department of Justice argued that the scheme threatened public trust in the electoral process and in government institutions, and arrested Vázquez and some of her co-conspirators in 2022.
Velutini, who was living in London at the time and owns an international bank operating in San Juan, had tried to bribe Vázquez, while Rossini had worked as a consultant for Velutini. All three individuals were charges of conspiracy, federal programs bribery and honest services wire fraud, but ultimately pleaded guilty in August 2025 to misdemeanor campaign finance charges.
A White House official told Newsweek that the investigation into Vázquez began 10 days after she endorsed Trump for president in 2020, a claim the former governor contends was motivated by retribution.
“Ms. Vazquez believes that there was no bribery at all because the discussions with the banker concerned a matter of agreeing on policy with a potential donor, and not taking action in exchange for a material gain. This case bears similarities to that of Alexander Sittenfeld, who received a pardon in May of 2025,” the official said.
The Times noted, however, that Christopher Kise, a former Florida solicitor general and lawyer for Herrera, had previously served on Trump’s legal defense team that handled the trial around the search and seizure of documents from the president’s Mar-a-Lago residence.
The Case of Adriana Camberos
The fourth individual pardoned, Adriana Camberos, was initially convicted in 2017 for her role in a scheme to sell millions of counterfeit bottles of caffeinated energy drinks. Trump in 2021 commuted her sentence, but she was convicted again in 2024 on an unrelated fraud charge, marking the second time that the president has intervened on her behalf.
The White House official told Newsweek that Camberos “was unfairly targeted and subject to political prosecution.”
“After President Trump commuted Ms. Camberos’ sentence in 2021, the Biden Department of Justice targeted the family,” the official said. “The Camberos are siblings that own a wholesale grocery business. Part of that business was to engage in a practice called product conversion, in which a company makes ancillary representations regarding where a product is sold – for example, claiming a product will be sold at a rehab center but is actually sold in a local supermarket.”
“A US District Court Judge of 20 years wrote that he never experienced a case like this being criminally prosecuted,” the official continued. “During the Camberos’ trial, the judge disallowed mention of Ms. Camberos’ commutation because it would invoke President Trump’s name. Given the Biden Administration’s repeated use of the Justice Department to target political enemies, it is likely the Camberos family was targeted due to President Trump’s 2021 commutation.”
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