Is Trump Playing “Pardon, Marry, Kill” With Narcotraffickers?

OA1213 - Thomas is back for an action-packed Rapid Response Friday! This week: we compare the letter that just earned the former President of Honduras a pardon of his conviction for definitely being involved with narcotrafficking against the Trump administration’s excuses for murder on the high seas of Venezuelans suspected to be involved with narcotrafficking--and if House Speaker Mike Johnson actually has a point in blaming Barack Obama for all of this. Matt then takes a quick look at Steve Bannon’s petition for review of his conviction for contempt of Congress by the Supreme Court and explains how “safe third country” agreements now give ICE the power to deport asylum seekers to Central America without a hearing on their claims.

Finally in today’s footnote, Matt shares an incredible story from his week: an astonishing beyond-Kafkaesque legal argument the government has ordered his client to respond to that you will have to hear to believe.

1. “Double-Tap Warfare: Should President Obama be Investigated for War Crimes?” Florida Law Review (Jan. 2017)

2. Steve Bannon’s cert petition to the U.S. Supreme Court in Bannon v. US (10/15/2025)

3. U.S. v. Helen Bryan, 339 U.S. 323 (1950)

4. Matter of C-I-G-M & L-V-S-G-, 29 I&N Dec. 291, (BIA 10/31/2025)

5. Asylum Cooperative Agreement with Honduras, Federal Register (7/8/2025)

6. ACA with Guatemala, Federal Register (7/15/2025)

7. “The Night Raids,” Lynzy Billing, ProPublica (12/15/2022)

8. Juan Orlando Hernandez letter to Trump seeking pardon, New York Times (12/2/2025)

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