President Donald Trump is issuing a slew of pardons, a White House official said Friday, including granting clemency again to a woman who was convicted for a second time after he commuted her sentence in his first term.
Trump’s latest pardon of Adriana Camberos, along with her brother Andres, erases their 2024 convictions related to a scheme the Justice Department said involved deception in their resale of wholesale groceries and other goods. She had previously been convicted of an unrelated fraud, and Trump commuted her sentence in that case in 2021.
The White House official claimed the family had been “unfairly targeted” and subject to a political prosecution by the Biden administration given the earlier act of clemency, which erased a prison sentence for selling counterfeit bottles of 5-Hour Energy. Marcus S. Bourassa, Camberos’ attorney, told CNN, “Ms. Camberos was wrongfully convicted. She’s home now and very grateful to the President, the White House, and Alice Johnson for their support.”
White House Pardon Czar Alice Marie Johnson wrote on X that Trump had “extended mercy to 21 deserving individuals — with 9 people immediately released,” and listed several who appeared to have been convicted in drug cases. Trump also intends to pardon former Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez, who pleaded guilty to a campaign finance violation last summer, the White House official said.
Vázquez, along with two co-defendants whom Trump also plans to pardon, was facing time behind bars after the Justice Department brought bribery charges connected to the financing of her 2020 campaign.
From December 2019 through June 2020, the former governor allegedly conspired in a scheme to finance her gubernatorial campaign, according to the DOJ.
A former FBI agent and the owner of the international bank that operated in San Juan also participated in the alleged scheme, federal officials said.
The indictment alleged Julio Herrera Velutini, the owner of the international bank, and his consultant Mark Rossini, the former FBI agent, agreed to provide funding for Vázquez’s campaign in exchange for her replacing the island’s top bank regulator with one of their choosing. At the time, the bank was the “subject of an examination” by the regulatory agency, federal prosecutors say.
After reaching an agreement with the government, Vázquez, Herrera and Rossini pleaded guilty to misdemeanor charges in August.
Herrera’s daughter, Isabela Herrera, has donated millions of dollars to Trump-related political entities, according to campaign finance filings. CNN has reached out to the White House for additional comment.
The White House official said the charges were brought due to political motivations, citing the timing of the investigation into Vázquez — which they said began 10 days after she endorsed Trump in 2020 — as proof. Trump was still president at that time, although Vázquez was not arrested until 2022, during President Joe Biden’s administration.
The official said in her materials advocating for a pardon, Vázquez claims there was no quid pro quo or bribery at play in her dealings with the banker.
By CNN
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