Washington — President Trump announced Wednesday that he is pardoning Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar, who was indicted last year on more than a dozen federal charges related to bribery allegations.
Mr. Trump announced the pardon for Cuellar and his wife, Imelda, on Truth Social, claiming their prosecution was the result of weaponization by the Justice Department under former President Joe Biden.
“Henry, I don’t know you, but you can sleep well tonight — Your nightmare is finally over!” the president wrote, alleging that Cuellar’s opposition to Biden’s immigration policies was the reason he was indicted.
The president wrote that the Texas Democrat “bravely spoke out against Open Borders and the Biden Border ‘Catastrophe'” and accused Biden of deliberately targeting the congressman and his wife “simply for speaking the TRUTH.”
Mr. Trump included in his social media post a letter he received from Cuellar’s daughters requesting clemency for their parents.
The two women, Christina and Catherine Cuellar, wrote in their letter, dated Nov. 12, that they believed the congressman’s “independence and honesty may have contributed to how this case began.”
“He has never been afraid to speak his mind, especially when it comes to protecting the people of South Texas and securing the border from policies of the previous administration,” they told the president.
Cuellar’s daughters also appeared to reference Mr. Trump’s own criminal cases, which they called his “challenges.” They said they prayed for the president and his family “because we know that behind the headlines, there are real people who hurt, who love and who still hope for better days.”
Mr. Trump faced federal charges in two cases brought by former special counsel Jack Smith, though both ended after he won the presidency last year. A state prosecution in Georgia related to the 2020 election was also dismissed last week. The president was convicted on 34 felony counts in New York in June 2024 and has appealed the conviction.
Cuellar thanked Mr. Trump for the pardon and for “taking the time to look at the facts.”
“This decision clears the air and lets us move forward for South Texas. This pardon gives us a clean slate. The noise is gone. The work remains. And I intend to meet it head on,” he wrote on X. “Thank you Mr. President, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America.”
In last year’s indictment against the Cuellars, federal prosecutors accused them of accepting at least $598,000 in bribes from an oil and gas company owned by the government of Azerbaijan and a Mexican bank. They alleged that the bribes were laundered in the form of sham consulting contracts through front companies and middlemen into shell companies owned by Imelda Cuellar. The congressman’s wife, according to the indictment, “performed little or no legitimate” work under the consulting contracts.
The Justice Department also accused Cuellar of acting as a foreign agent to benefit the government of Azerbaijan.
He and his wife faced 14 counts, including conspiracy, bribery and money laundering. They pleaded not guilty. A trial in Cuellar’s case was set to begin in April.
The congressman, who served as the top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee, stepped down from the post while the case continued. Cuellar was elected to the House in 2005 and currently represents the 28th Congressional District, which stretches from San Antonio south to the U.S.-Mexico border. He won reelection last year, defeating his Republican opponent by more than 13,000 votes.
The president’s decision to grant clemency to Cuellar comes as Mr. Trump has faced backlash for his recent use of the pardon power, namely for providing reprieve to Juan Orlando Hernandez, the former president of Honduras who was convicted last year of helping to smuggle 400 tons of cocaine into the U.S.
Hernandez had been sentenced to 45 years in prison after he was found guilty of drug trafficking and weapons charges. But in announcing his decision to pardon Hernandez, Mr. Trump said he was treated “very harshly and unfairly.”
Hernandez was released from a federal prison in West Virginia on Monday.
While Mr. Trump pardoned Hernandez, his administration has also ordered strikes on vessels in the Caribbean that were allegedly carrying drugs.
The move by the president could also have political reverberations. The National Republican Congressional Committee targeted Cuellar’s seat as a potential pick-up for Republicans in next year’s midterm elections. His district was also among those redrawn by Texas Republicans during their mid-decade redistricting this summer to bolster the GOP’s chances of holding onto their House majority, though it shifted only slightly from an estimated 46% Democratic share under the old lines to 45% Democratic share under the new boundaries.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/henry-cuellar-pardon-trump/
