After receiving a pardon from President Donald Trump on Thursday, U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, drew the president’s ire for deciding to run for re-election as a Democrat.
Cuellar and his wife were indicted last year in connection with accepting nearly $600,000 in bribes and laundering funds, according to The Hill.
On Wednesday, Trump announced on Truth Social a “full and unconditional” pardon of the Cuellars.
The president claimed that the congressman had been punished by the U.S. Department of Justice under former President Joe Biden for speaking out against his administration’s border security policies.
When Cuellar filed to run for re-election as a Democrat, however, Trump lashed out at the 11-term congressman on Sunday.
“Only a short time after signing the Pardon, Congressman Henry Cuellar announced that he will be ‘running’ for Congress again, in the Great State of Texas (a State where I received the highest number of votes ever recorded!), as a Democrat, continuing to work with the same Radical Left Scum that just weeks before wanted him and his wife to spend the rest of their lives in Prison – And probably still do!” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Such a lack of LOYALTY, something that Texas Voters, and Henry’s daughters, will not like. Oh well, next time, no more Mr. Nice guy!”
Trump said that his decision to pardon Cuellar was prompted when he received a letter from the congressman’s daughters.
Cuellar has said on multiple occasions that he identifies as a “conservative Democrat.” He represents Texas’s 28th District, whose residents voted for Trump in the 2024 presidential election.
“Nothing has changed — I’m a good old conservative Democrat,” Cuellar told reporters on Wednesday.
The congressman said the pardon from Trump came as a surprise and thanked the president for his decision, Politico reported.
“I want to thank President Trump for this. … Now we clear the air. Nothing has changed, and we’re going to be ready to win re-election again,” Cuellar said.
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