Trump to pardon ex-Puerto Rico governor Vázquez in campaign finance
case, official says
[January 17, 2026]
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump plans to pardon former Puerto
Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez, a White House official said Friday.
Vázquez pleaded guilty last August to a campaign finance violation in a
federal case that authorities say also involved a former FBI agent and a
Venezuelan banker. Her sentencing was set for later this month.
Federal prosecutors had been seeking one year behind bars, something
that Vázquez’s attorneys opposed as they accused prosecutors of
violating a guilty plea deal reached last year that saw previous charges
including bribery and fraud dropped.
They noted that Vázquez had agreed to plead guilty to accepting a
promise of a campaign contribution that was never received.
Attorneys for Vázquez did not immediately respond to requests for
comment.
The official who confirmed the planned pardon indicated Trump saw the
case as political prosecution and said the investigation into Vázquez, a
Republican aligned with the pro-statehood New Progressive Party, had
begun 10 days after she endorsed Trump in 2020. The official wasn’t
authorized to reveal the news by name and spoke on the condition of
anonymity.
CBS News was the first to report the plan to pardon Vázquez.
Pablo José Hernández, Puerto Rico's representative in Congress and a
member of the island's main opposition party, condemned a pardon for
Vázquez.
“Impunity protects and fosters corruption. The pardon ... undermines
public integrity, shatters faith in justice, and offends those of us who
believe in honest governance,” said Hernández, a Democrat with Puerto
Rico's Popular Democratic Party.
Vázquez, an attorney, was the U.S. territory’s first former governor to
plead guilty to a crime, specifically accepting a donation from a
foreigner for her 2020 political campaign.
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Governor Wanda Vázquez speaks at a press conference in San Juan,
Puerto Rico, May 21, 2020. (AP Photo/Carlos Giusti, File)
She was arrested in August 2022 and accused of engaging in a bribery
scheme from December 2019 through June 2020 while governor. At the
time, she told reporters that she was innocent.
Authorities said that Puerto Rico’s Office of the Commissioner of
Financial Institutions was investigating an international bank owned
by Venezuelan Julio Martín Herrera Velutini because of alleged
suspicious transactions that had not been reported by the bank.
Authorities said Herrera and Mark Rossini, a former FBI agent who
provided consulting services to Herrera, allegedly promised to
support Vázquez’s campaign if she dismissed the commissioner and
appointing a new one of Herrera’s choosing.
Authorities said Vázquez demanded the commissioner’s resignation in
February 2020 after allegedly accepting the bribery offer. She also
was accused of appointing a new commissioner in May 2020: a former
consultant for Herrera’s bank.
Vázquez was the second woman to serve as Puerto Rico’s governor and
the first former governor to face federal charges.
She was sworn in as governor in August 2019 after former Gov.
Ricardo Rosselló resigned following massive protests. Vázquez served
until 2021, after losing the primaries of the pro-statehood New
Progressive Party to former Gov. Pedro Pierluisi.
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Associated Press reporter Dánica Coto in San Juan, Puerto Rico
contributed.
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