U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order pardoning former Puerto Rico Governor Wanda Vázquez Garced. This information was confirmed by a White House official on Friday, January 16, 2026. Two of her accomplices also received pardons: former FBI agent Mark Rossini and Venezuelan-Italian banker Julio Herrera Velutini. This is reported by UNN with reference to NBC News.
Details
The Department of Justice indicted Vázquez Garced in 2022, accusing her of participating in a bribery scheme to finance her 2020 gubernatorial campaign. Last August, she pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of violating election finance rules.
The Trump administration called the case an example of "political persecution." A White House official noted that the investigation against Vázquez Garced began just 10 days after she publicly endorsed Trump in the October 2020 election. The pardon documents claim that there was no crime in the ex-governor's actions, and negotiations with the banker concerned policy coordination, not personal gain.
Financial aspect
The pardon decision was accompanied by discussions of significant donations to Trump's political committee "MAGA Inc." Isabela Herrera, daughter of pardoned banker Velutini, donated $2.5 million to the committee in late 2024 and another $1 million in July 2025 – after prosecutors dropped the most serious charges against her father.
Vázquez Garced was due to receive a final court sentence later this month, but the presidential decree completely nullifies the legal consequences of her guilty plea.
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