President Trump expressed discontent that Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) announced he would seek re-election as a Democrat shortly after receiving a full and unconditional pardon.
The Texas Democrat and his wife, Imelda, were indicted last year for allegedly accepting nearly $600,000 in bribes and laundering the funds.
“Can you imagine??? The Democrats, under the Crooked Joe Biden Administration, who always use extreme force and jail-time to destroy their political opponent, wanted to put Congressman Henry Cuellar, and his wife, Imelda, in PRISON, for 15 years, which I predicted these Radical Left Lunatics would do – And they never stopped wanting to fulfill this evil quest! The Dems mercilessly went after Henry with everything they had! They were looking to destroy him, his lovely wife, his two young daughters, and anyone close to them. When the Democrats overwhelmingly lost the 2024 Presidential Election, and power with it, they, regardless, did everything they could to keep going after the Cuellar family,” Trump said on Truth Social.
“The Dems were vicious, and all because Henry strongly wanted, correctly, BORDER SECURITY! He was against illegals pouring into our Country, totally unchecked and unvetted. The Congressman didn’t want gang members, drug dealers, violent prisoners, people from mental institutions and yes, even murderers, in the good ol’ USA. It was all very unfair what they were doing to him and his family, so much so that his daughters wrote me a beautiful letter about their parents (Just posted on TRUTH!). After reading it I decided, in the interest of justice, and based on the daughter’s loving request, that I would give Henry and Imelda a Full and Complete Pardon. I 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! I signed the papers, and said to people in the Oval Office that I just did a very good, perhaps life saving, thing. God was very happy with me that day!” Trump continued.
“THEN IT HAPPENED!!! 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! 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!” he added.
Full post:
More from the Associated Press:
Cuellar, in a television interview Sunday after Trump’s social media post, said he was a conservative Democrat willing to work with the administration “to see where we can find common ground.” The congressman said he had prayed for the president and the presidency at church that morning “because if the president succeeds, the country succeeds.”
Citing a fellow Texas politician, the late President Lyndon Johnson, Cuellar said he was an American, Texan and Democrat, in that order. “I think anybody that puts party before their country is doing a disservice to their country,” he told Fox News Channel’s “Sunday Morning Futures.”
“I want to thank President Trump for his tremendous leadership and for taking the time to look at the facts. I thank God for standing with my family and I during this difficult time. This decision clears the air and lets us move forward for South Texas,” Cuellar said after receiving the pardon.
“This pardon gives us a clean slate. The noise is gone. The work remains. And I intend to meet it head on. Thank you Mr. President, God bless you, and God bless the United States of America,” he added.
I want to thank President Trump for his tremendous leadership and for taking the time to look at the facts. I thank God for standing with my family and I during this difficult time. This decision clears the air and lets us move forward for South Texas.
This pardon gives us a… pic.twitter.com/ajNvHq6rG0
— Rep. Henry Cuellar (@RepCuellar) December 3, 2025
CBS News shared further:
Cuellar discussed the pardon on Sunday during an appearance on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” saying he believed the indictment against him and his wife was an act of retaliation by Biden administration officials over his criticism of the former president’s border policies.
“I now look at all the evidence, and looking at everything, definitely I feel that I was weaponized, that he [former President Biden] used the department to go after myself and my family,” said Cuellar. “And I’ll tell you something, if they want to come after me because I was a critic about open borders, that’s one thing. But you don’t bring the family in. You just don’t do that.”
CBS News contacted Cuellar’s office for comment on Mr. Trump’s Truth Social post but did not receive an immediate response.
A party switch would have been an unexpected bonus for Republicans after the GOP-run Legislature redrew the state’s congressional districts this year at Mr. Trump’s behest. Cuellar’s South Texas district, which includes parts of metro San Antonio, was not one of the Democratic districts that Republicans changed substantially.