President Donald Trump has pardoned former Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced, who pleaded guilty last year to a misdemeanor campaign finance violation, along with two co-defendants in the federal case, marking the latest example of Trump’s use of clemency powers to benefit political allies and individuals with financial ties to his political operation, while also underscoring a broader Justice Department retreat from sweeping public corruption investigations pursued in earlier years.
Vázquez was originally charged in 2022 in a felony bribery case alleging that she accepted more than $300,000 in illegal campaign contributions tied to her unsuccessful 2020 gubernatorial bid from Venezuelan-Italian banker Julio Herrera Velutini in exchange for firing a local banking official he opposed, with prosecutors also charging Herrera and Mark Rossini, a former FBI agent described as an intermediary in the alleged scheme, all three of whom fought the charges for years before the Justice Department abruptly moved last year to end the case by withdrawing the felony indictment and allowing guilty pleas in August 2025 to a single misdemeanor charge.
The deal reduced potential prison exposure from up to 20 years to a maximum of one year and drew sharp criticism from U.S. District Judge Silvia Carreño-Coll, who described the punishment as “a mere slap on the wrist” after years of prosecutors “zealously” pursuing the case, while acknowledging they were “following directives presumably issued by Main Justice,” as defense lawyers argued that Vázquez had been targeted in part due to her endorsement of Trump; Herrera was represented by Christopher Kise, a former Trump attorney, and his daughter donated a combined $3.5 million to a Trump-linked super PAC during the pendency of the case, with Kise later saying, “Mr. Herrera Velutini is profoundly grateful to President Donald J. Trump for bestowing the grace of his benevolent pardon,” while a White House official said the prosecution was politically motivated and attorneys for Vázquez and Rossini declined immediate comment.