Trump Administration

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHUMER. Mr. President, I want to begin with a truly disgusting and alarming piece of news the American people got this morning. This morning, the former President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez, was released from prison after Donald Trump gave him a pardon.

We all know Donald Trump does a lot of hypocritical things. Almost every day there is hypocrisy oozing from the White House. But pardoning one of the world's biggest drug traffickers is egregious, shameful, and dangerous, even for Donald Trump.

It would be bad enough on its own for Donald Trump to pardon this horrible drug trafficker, but for him to pardon this drug lord while putting a quarter of our military in the Caribbean, right nearby Honduras, to fight drug trafficking makes an utter mockery of Donald Trump's supposed desire to root out all drug trafficking.

Let's be clear of the facts: The person Donald Trump just pardoned was convicted of helping move 400 tons of cocaine to the United States, all the while Trump blows up alleged drug boats to prevent drugs from getting to America and risks leapfrogging the United States into war with Venezuela.

You can't have it both ways, Mr. President. You talk a big game about hunting down drug traffickers and getting drugs off our streets and then turn around and free a dangerous, convicted drug lord. That sends a message to other criminals: Suck up to Trump, and you will get a pardon, no matter how many boatloads of drugs you pump into our streets.

Even one Trump adviser admitted that ``how we justify this is really hard.''

Trump's pardon reeks of hypocrisy; it reeks of corruption, which is the MO of the Trump administration.

The failure of the leadership at the Department of Defense is also a national embarrassment. The mess Secretary Hegseth creates regularly shows the consequences of picking an inexperienced FOX News host to lead a massively complex life-or-death Federal Agency. Donald Trump is learning it the hard way: If you pick a FOX News cable host to lead the largest, most complicated Federal Agency of all, you get burnt, and Hegseth is just way beyond what anyone would imagine in how bad he is at that Department.

In the past few days, more questions have arisen about Hegseth's order to attack alleged drug trafficking vessels off the coast of Venezuela. It is possible those strikes--which may have included verbal orders from the Secretary of Defense to ``kill everybody'' on those boats--violated the law.

But this is the problem: The American people still don't know exactly what happened because Pete Hegseth refuses to tell the truth.

Months ago, right after the strikes, Hegseth went on FOX News and bragged that he was present at every moment of the operation. He said on FOX News that he ``watched it live.'' He said the same to us in person.

But then, last night, he tweeted that his admiral was actually the one who made all the combat decisions.

This is so spineless.

Pete Hegseth won't hesitate for a moment to talk a big game and take credit if he thinks it makes him look good, but the minute trouble arises, suddenly Hegseth says someone else was making the decision.

Now, let's be very clear about something: There is a very easy way for the American people to get the truth. Pete Hegseth should release the full tapes of the September 2 attack--both the first and second strike; not a clip, not some edited or redacted snippet. The full, unedited tapes of each strike must be released so the American people can see what happened with their own eyes.

Now, Pete Hegseth says he did nothing wrong. So prove it. If it is true, he should have nothing to fear from the truth. But if he refuses to release the tapes, if he stonewalls, if he keeps hiding the facts, then the question becomes unavoidable: What is Pete Hegseth hiding? What does Pete Hegseth not want the American people to see?

Is it that his story doesn't add up? We don't know because Pete Hegseth is right now hiding the truth. And, sadly, that has become the theme with this administration. When facts are inconvenient, they cover up.

So, Secretary Hegseth, release the tapes.

I also want to commend my Senate colleagues, including the chairman and ranking member of the Armed Services Committee, Senators Wicker and Reed, for working together in good faith in a bipartisan way to conduct oversight of these boat strikes. I support those efforts wholeheartedly.

One of the first things we need is a classified briefing from the DOD--Department of Defense--about exactly what happened during these operations. Let me be clear: Secretary Hegseth must be part of those briefings. We need documentation. We need the tapes.

But we should go one step further: Secretary Hegseth should testify publicly before the committee, under oath, so that the American people hear the facts.

The truth should not be kept behind closed doors. The fresh air of public scrutiny should be let in. The public has a right to know. That is why Pete Hegseth must testify publicly and, most importantly, why he must release the full tape of the attacks.

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