![](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/47bd7b62f20d23c5467e13220879e76651-HenryCuellar-pardon.rsquare.w400.jpg\")
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\n Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, listens to testimony by VA Secretary Doug Collins on Thursday, May 15, 2025.
\n Photo: Tom Williams\/CQ-Roll Call\/Getty Images\n <\/p>\n
In an surprise move, President Donald Trump<\/a> has announced that he is pardoning Henry Cuellar, a Democratic congressman from Texas indicted last year on federal corruption charges. In a TruthSocial post<\/a>, Trump repeated his typical refrain that the federal government under President Joe Biden \u201cweaponized the Justice System,\u201d then accused Biden of trying to \u201ctake out\u201d the \u201chighly respected congressman\u201d after he \u201cbravely spoke out\u201d against Biden\u2019s border policies.<\/p>\n \u201cSleepy Joe went after the Congressman, and even the Congressman\u2019s wonderful wife, Imelda, simply for speaking the TRUTH,\u201d Trump wrote, before announcing that he was granting Cuellar and his wife \u201cmy full and unconditional PARDON.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cHenry, I don\u2019t know you, but you can sleep well tonight \u2014 Your nightmare is finally over!\u201d Trump added.<\/p>\n In a statement<\/a> shared to social media, Cuellar thanked the president for his \u201ctremendous leadership.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThis 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.\u201d he wrote. Cuellar also indicated that he was not switching parties:<\/p>\n \u201cNothing has changed,\u201d Rep. Henry Cuellar tells reporters about his future after he gets pardoned by Trump. <\/p>\n He has filed for reelection as a Democrat, per @elliskkim<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Manu Raju (@mkraju) December 3, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n In May of 2024, federal prosecutors unveiled a grand jury indictment<\/a> against Cuellar and his wife Imelda, accusing the couple of accepting around $600,000 in bribes from an oil company owned by the Azerbaijani government, as well as a Mexican bank, between 2014 and 2021. Cuellar is alleged to have used his office to influence U.S. foreign policy and legislative activity in favor of the foreign entities, and to have acted as a foreign agent on behalf of Azerbaijan. The Cuellars faced more than a dozen charges including conspiracy, bribery of a federal official, and money laundering. The congressman was slated to go on trial in April.<\/p>\n Cuellar is a longstanding political moderate, serving in the House of Representatives since 2004 where he frequently ran unopposed. He fended off two significant primary challenges from progressive Jessica Cisneros in 2020 and 2022, the latter of which resulted in a run-off and recount of the vote.<\/p>\n What\u2019s especially surprising about Trump\u2019s move is that likely puts his own party in a tough position in Texas. The NRCC, House Republicans\u2019 campaign arm, had seen Cuellar\u2019s district as a top flipping prospect. In a statement<\/a> last month, an NRCC spokesman said of the congressman, \u201cCuellar is broke, indicted, and completely out of touch with South Texans\u2019 values.\u201d<\/p>\n There were however signs that the president was amenable to the congressman\u2019s plight. Shortly after Cuellar was indicted, Trump denounced the move<\/a> and said Cuellar was indicted because he \u201cwouldn\u2019t play Crooked Joe\u2019s Open border game.\u201d<\/p>\n Punchbowl News <\/a>noted in February that the Trump administration had taken an interest in Cuellar, reporting that the congressman had conversations with Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem, White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller, and\u00a0border czar Tom Homan. Cuellar represents a border district and frequently bucks his party on immigration and other issues.<\/p>\n This is far from the first time that Trump has utilized his pardon power for members of Congress. Most recently, the president commuted the sentence of former Republican congressman George Santos<\/a> who began serving a seven year sentence in April after pleading guilty to counts of wire fraud and aggravated identity theft. Trump has yet to weigh in on the fate of another Democratic member: former Senator Bob Menendez<\/a>. In January, the onetime chair of the Senate Foreign Relations committee was sentenced to 11 years in prison after being found guilty of receiving bribes and acting as a foreign agent. Menendez, who long professed his innocence, appeared to be actively courting action from Trump in the weeks prior to the start of his sentence, claiming the justice system had been weaponized against him and criticizing the Southern District of New York<\/a>, a longtime foe of the president.<\/p>\n \u201cPresident Trump is right. This process is political and has been corrupted to the core. I hope President Trump cleans up the cesspool and restores integrity to the system,\u201d Menendez wrote in a statement <\/a>following his conviction, tagging Trump on social media.<\/p>\n Sign Up for the Intelligencer\u00a0Newsletter<\/p>\n Daily news about the politics, business, and technology shaping our world.<\/p>\n Vox Media, LLC Terms and Privacy Notice<\/p>\n