President Donald Trump will pardon former Puerto Rico Gov. Wanda Vázquez Garced, who pleaded guilty to a corruption charge related to her 2020 campaign, a White House official confirmed to MS NOW on Friday.
Vázquez was arrested in August 2022 on charges of conspiracy, bribery and wire fraud. Federal officials alleged that she accepted more than $300,000 in campaign contributions from an FBI agent turned consultant, Mark Rossini, and from Julio Martin Herrera-Velutini, an international bank owner whose bank was under investigation by Puerto Rican authorities.
In return, prosecutors contended, Vázquez appointed a new commissioner of the office overseeing the bank probe, selected by Herrera.
Trump is also pardoning Rossini and Herrera, according to the White House official, who spoke on condition of anonymity ahead of the pardons being publicly announced.
Vázquez initially pleaded not guilty, then changed her plea to guilty on a lesser charge last August.
The pardon was first reported by CBS News.
Vázquez assumed office in August 2019, after her predecessor resigned, and lost a primary for the center-right New Progressive Party the following year.
Soon after, she endorsed Trump’s unsuccessful reelection bid.
The pardons are the latest in a host of them issued by Trump in his second term. On his first day back in office, he pardoned nearly 1,600 people who were charged or convicted in the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol.








