President Donald Trump pardoned a former Honduran leader sentenced to prison on cocaine distribution charges, a move the White House says doesn't undermine Trump's anti-drug campaign that includes military strikes on alleged drug boats near Venezuela.

Trump said Nov. 28 that he planned to pardon former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernandez. A White House official and Hernandez's attorney, Renato Stabile, confirmed Dec. 2 that the pardon has been issued. Stabile said Hernandez was released early Dec. 2 from a federal prison, where he was serving a 45-year sentence "for cocaine importation and related weapons offenses," according to the Justice Department.

Hernandez was convicted in March of 2024 after a three-week jury trial in New York City. He was "at the center of one of the largest and most violent drug-trafficking conspiracies in the world," helping to bring more than 400 tons of cocaine into the U.S., the Justice Department said in a news release last year after his conviction.

The Justice Department said Hernandez used bribes from drug-trafficking organizations to "fuel his rise" and then provided "support and protection for his co-conspirators, allowing them to move mountains of cocaine, commit acts of violence and murder, and help turn Honduras into one of the most dangerous countries in the world."

Hernandez's involvement in the drug-trafficking operation extended from at least 2004 through 2022, according to DOJ. He was in office until shortly before he was extradited to the U.S. in 2022.

Prosecutor Jacob Gutwillig said during Hernandez’s 2024 sentencing that the former president “corrupted and corroded Honduran government institutions” and protected the drug operation “with the full power of the state.” Hernandez was appealing his conviction when he was pardoned.

Trump said in a social media post that he was issuing the pardon because "people that I greatly respect" told him Hernandez was "treated very harshly and unfairly." Axios reported that longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone lobbied for the pardon.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said during a Dec. 1 news conference that Hernandez's case was a "clear... over prosecution" by former President Joe Biden's administration. Leavitt responded to a question about whether the clemency action undercuts Trump's posture toward Venezuela, which includes the boat strikes and a large buildup of military forces, by saying "I don't think so."

"I think that President Trump has been quite clear in his defense of the United States homeland to stop these illegal narcotics from coming to our borders, whether that's by land or by sea," Leavitt said. "And he's also made it quite clear that he wants to correct the wrongs of the weaponized Justice Department under the previous administration."

Trump has made cracking down on illegal drug trafficking central to his second term, imposing tariffs on countries he accuses of not doing enough to stop fentanyl distribution. His administration has also launched an aggressive campaign targeting alleged Venezuelan drug traffickers that has drawn criticism from legal experts and members of Congress.

Trump told military service members during a Thanksgiving call that he soon will expand the military operation around Venezuela to include strikes on land.

Contributing: Nick Penzenstadler.

This story has been updated to add new information.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Amid anti-drug push, Trump pardons leader convicted on cocaine charges

Reporting by Zac Anderson, USA TODAY / USA TODAY

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