SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Congressman Henry Cuellar expressed surprise and gratitude after receiving a presidential pardon on Wednesday, saying he did not seek it out but appreciated the support.<\/p>\n
\u201cI got a text from a reporter asking me to comment on the pardon, and I thought she was talking about another pardon for he president of Honduras,\u201d Cuellar said. \u201cI had to read that twice.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cuellar credited his daughters for sending a letter requesting the pardon on his behalf. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy daughters, Christina and Catherine, as daughters seeing their mom and dad go through a very difficult time, they sent the letter,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
President Donald Trump announced that he would pardon U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Laredo) and his wife, Imelda, on Wednesday. The couple faced federal bribery charges related to alleged dealings with Azerbaijan.<\/p>\n
Trump said he made the decision because Cuellar had spoken out against the Biden administration\u2019s border policies. <\/p>\n
The pardon eliminates what had been a major vulnerability for the Laredo-area Democrat as he prepares for a challenging re-election campaign next year.<\/p>\n
Cuellar expressed thanks to President Trump and to God for the pardon. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very thankful to the president. I want to thank the president, President Trump, for this,\u201d Cuellar said. \u201cI want to thank God. It\u2019s difficult. I don\u2019t wish this on anybody.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cuellar said he has not yet spoken directly with Trump but hopes to do so at the upcoming White House Christmas party. <\/p>\n
Addressing potential criticism about the pardon, Cuellar denied any backdoor dealings. <\/p>\n
\u201cThere was no back deals anywhere,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m a Democrat, conservative Democrat, and I will continue being bipartisan.\u201d<\/p>\n
He emphasized his commitment to representing his district and working across party lines. <\/p>\n
\u201cI represent my district, and I\u2019ll continue doing that. I will work with Democrats, I will work with Republicans, I will work with the president depending on what the issue is,\u201d Cuellar said.<\/p>\n
Cuellar also discussed the recent Supreme Court decision on midterm redistricting, which removed him from Bexar County and Guadalupe County, areas he has represented for years. <\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t like midterm redistricting. I think they ought to be done after a census, the way it\u2019s been done for years,\u201d Cuellar said.<\/p>\n
He lamented the impact on his district but remained hopeful. <\/p>\n
Cuellar is seeking his 12th term in Congress. <\/p>\n
Read also<\/p>\n
Copyright 2025 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 Congressman Henry Cuellar expressed surprise and gratitude after receiving a presidential pardon on Wednesday, saying…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":78078,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[15660,287,27,29,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-78077","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-henry-cuellar","9":"tag-politics","10":"tag-texas","11":"tag-texas-headlines","12":"tag-texas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78077","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78077"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78077\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}