The past week brought some off-putting developments involving illegal drugs and the federal government. On the one hand, federal agents were busted for selling illegal drugs; on the other hand, Joe Biden granted clemency to many drug traffickers.
The Associated Press (AP) reported on Wednesday (December 11) that two Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents were busted for selling illegal drugs called “bath salts” and making at least $300,000 off the illegal sales. One of the agents was identified in the court documents as Homeland Security Investigations Special Agent David Cole, who was arrested in Salt Lake City on Friday (December 6). The other agent was not identified by name but referred to as “Person A.”
Cole and Person A reportedly employed the assistance of a criminal while he was serving his prison sentence to work for them upon release. The convict in question eventually became the informant for the FBI and told them that he was pressured by the DHS agents into their illegal drug sale.
Cole has been criminally charged and faces up to 10 years in prison if convicted. However, it was not clear whether Person A would be facing any charges, as per the AP story.
The involvement of federal agents in the illegal drugs sale has quite a history in America. In the 1990s, investigative journalist Gary Webb exposed the involvement of the CIA in drug trafficking, mainly cocaine, to fund the Contra rebels in Nicaragua against the leftist Sandinista regime. Webb was targeted by the federal government and ultimately he was found dead in 2004. His death was ruled suicide with two gunshot wounds to the head, though questions about it remain. The federal government has also been linked to cross-border drug trafficking by other means. Earlier this year, former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández was sentenced in New York to 45 years in prison for drug trafficking. Fox News anchor Jesse Watters slammed the US government for sending at least a billion dollars to the Hernández regime over the past decade and praising him as a loyal ally while he plagued America with illegal drugs, mainly cocaine.
At times, state law enforcement officials have also been found involved in the dark business of illegal drugs. In March 2023, Joanne Segovia, executive director of the San Jose Police Officers’ Association, was charged with importing illegal drugs. Segovia was accused of using the police association’s supplies to import and distribute fentanyl for as long as eight years.
In addition to directly running and partaking in drug trafficking, federal government has furthered the illegal drug business in other ways. On Thursday (December 12), Joe Biden used his presidential authority to commute the sentences of nearly 1500 criminals many of whom are serving prison for drug trafficking. Tampa Free Press named some of the drug traffickers and distributors from this long list who received the clemency from Biden. Jesse Watters also named some other notorious criminals who’ll be freed by Biden’s clemency orders.