WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump criticized Rep. Henry Cuellar for “a lack of loyalty” for running as a Democrat after receiving a presidential pardon.
“Such a lack of LOYALTY, something that Texas Voters, and Henry’s daughters, will not like,” Trump said in a Sunday post to Truth Social. “Oh’ well, next time, no more Mr. Nice guy!”
Trump announced last week that he was pardoning Cuellar, a Texas Democrat who was indicted last year on bribery and money laundering charges. Cuellar thanked the president at the time in a post to X “for his tremendous leadership and for taking the time to look at the facts.”
Asked last week whether there was any deal cut with the White House, Cuellar told reporters “no.”
In his Sunday post to Truth Social, Trump said that he “never spoke to the Congressman, his wife, or his daughters, but felt very good about fighting for a family that was tormented by very sick and deranged people — They were treated sooo BADLY!”
Trump criticized Cuellar, saying that by running as a Democrat, he was “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!”
Cuellar responded to the post in an interview on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” saying that he prayed for Trump and his family this morning and added, “I don’t vote party, I vote for what’s right for the country.”
He added, “I am a conservative Democrat, but I will work with the president.” Cuellar expressed interest in meeting with border czar Tom Homan and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, saying, “I’d love to sit down and see where we can find common ground.”
Cuellar’s office didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Cuellar filed to run as a Democrat, according to the unofficial candidate filing tracker kept by the Texas Democratic Party. The filing deadline is Monday.
Cuellar and his wife, Imelda, were indicted in May 2024 on 14 counts, including bribery, wire fraud and money laundering. Two of the counts, which were related to alleged violations of the Foreign Agent Registration Act, were later dismissed.
The Cuellars pleaded not guilty. Both the congressman and the president argued that the case was politically motivated, though neither has provided evidence of politics influencing charging decisions.
Prosecutors alleged that Cuellar and his wife accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes from an Azerbaijani oil and gas company, as well as a Mexican bank, to take official acts to benefit the companies. The Cuellars have denied wrongdoing throughout the process, and the congressman thanked Trump in a note that says the pardon “clears the air and lets us move forward for South Texas.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said last week that he agreed with Cuellar being pardoned.
“I think the outcome was exactly the right outcome,” he said in a CNN interview.
Republicans have tried to unseat Cuellar from his South Texas throne cycle after cycle, but the congressman’s political power in the district has proved to be formidable — he won re-election in 2024 even with the indictment hanging over his head in a district that Trump won by about 7 percentage points.
When Texas Republicans, at Trump’s urging, moved to redraw their state’s congressional map earlier this year to give the GOP the ability to flip several seats, they added even more Republicans to Cuellar’s district in the hopes of finally finding a way to unseat him.
