Witnesses for the defense: El Chapo & Biden!?
A cavalcade of ex-U.S. presidents — as well as President Biden — are on the proposed witness list of ex-Honduras President Juan Orlando Hernandez, who appeared in shackles in Manhattan Federal Court on Tuesday to plead not guilty to drug and firearms trafficking charges.
Mexican crime lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman is also among those Hernandez’s defense team wants to call as witnesses.
Hernandez, who was president of the Central American nation from 2014 through January 2021, wants jurors to hear from fellow ex-heads of state Donald Trump, Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, who he says would join Guzman to vouch for his innocence.
“Biden may be busy running the country, but I can’t think of anything that Trump is doing that’s important — and I know that Mr. Obama is retired,” said defense lawyer Raymond Colon.
Colon said he wants to subpoena the U.S. presidents, past and present, because he believes they will testify Hernandez was an ally in the U.S. war on drugs.
“My client was the first president to enforce or agree to the extradition of individuals in Honduras that were trafficking narcotics . ... We need to bring that out, and maybe that’s our way out of a life sentence.”
The feds say Hernandez facilitated the importation of hundreds of thousands of kilograms of cocaine to the U.S. starting in 2004.
Hernandez conspired with the world’s most prolific druglords to construct a “corrupt and brutally violent empire” of cocaine trafficking to the U.S., Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said following his indictment.
Prosecutors said he earned millions of dollars in bribes by using the power of his office to facilitate the flow of drugs and firearms into the U.S.
Hernandez was extradited to the U.S. in April. He was arrested at his home in February, and Honduran courts allowed his extradition.
Colon said the notorious drug kingpin El Chapo, who is serving out a life sentence on drug-trafficking charges following his 2019 conviction in Brooklyn Federal Court, would tell a jury he never met Hernandez.
“Listen, we’re going to subpoena El Chapo. He’s over there in Colorado,” Colon said. Guzman is housed at the federal “Supermax prison there.
“Hopefully, they’ll bring him over,” Colon said. “I believe he was actually quoted as saying, ‘I had no interaction or transactions or dealings with President Hernandez.’ ”
Scores of Honduran nationals who attended Tuesday’s hearing screamed “rata,” the Spanish word for “rat,” when U.S. marshals brought Hernandez into the courtroom in handcuffs.