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President Donald Trump has issued a full pardon to Rep. Henry Cuellar, a conservative Democrat in Texas who harbors many of the same anti-immigration views he does.
Cuellar and his wife, Imelda, were indicted in 2024 on charges relating to their allegedly accepting $600,000 in payments from foreign sources, including from an Azerbaijan state-run oil company and a Mexican bank. Their trial, featuring a dozen charges relating to bribery, money laundering, and conspiracy, was set to start this coming spring.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump claimed, without evidence, that the Biden administration had indicted the Cuellars based on the congressman’s outspoken criticism of former President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.
“Biden just Indicted Henry Cuellar because the Respected Democrat Congressman wouldn’t play Crooked Joe’s Open Border game,” Trump wrote. “He was for Border Control, so they said, ‘Let’s use the FBI and DOJ to take him out!'”
Trump also said that “CROOKED JOE BIDEN IS A THREAT TO DEMOCRACY!” — despite Biden no longer holding any government position nor expressing a desire to ever do so again.
In a separate post, Trump accused Biden of having “weaponized the Justice System against [his] Political Opponents” — a tactic frequently used by Trump himself, who has repeatedly demanded that Attorney General Pam Bondi investigate Democrats and other officials.
Cuellars is the latest in a long line of people accused or convicted of white collar crimes to whom Trump has granted clemency. Trump’s clemency orders have been more political than those of past presidents, and he has often pardoned people who have shown him loyalty — such as his former lawyer Rudy Giuliani and the 1,500 people he pardoned for their role in the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol building. Trump has also delivered pardons and commutations for multiple celebrities.
Several observers on social media criticized Trump’s latest pardon, questioning his motivations when it came to Cuellar, who is running for reelection next fall.
“President Donald Trump pardoned Cuellar, because Trump supports money laundering, bribery, and conspiracy,” opined political science professor Nicholas Grossman.
Democratic strategist Mike Nellis pondered other considerations from Trump.
“House Republicans have poured a lot of time and money into taking down Cuellar — now Trump swoops in and pardons him,” Nellis said. “You have to wonder what kind of corrupt deal just went down.”
“Cuellar won re-election in 2022 by 13 points. In 2024, he won re-election by 5.6 points. Trump won his district in 2024 by 7 points,” journalist Yashar Ali wrote on Bluesky. “Will Cuellar switch parties?”
In a post published to its website on Wednesday, just hours before Trump announced Cuellar’s pardon, Prison Policy Initiative digital communications strategist Regan Huston explained that Trump should issue more pardons and commutations — but that, by focusing on his friends and political allies, the president is using the pardon power in a dangerous way.
“While President Trump has used his pardon power far more frequently than most recent presidents, it is still not enough. There are more than 200,000 people in federal custody on any given day,” Huston said.
She added:
The real problem isn’t how many people he has pardoned, but rather that he appears to be reserving that power just for his friends. The vast majority of people who have been pardoned by President Trump are political and business allies.
“Pardoning friends and allies, while ignoring nearly everyone else, isn’t just bad optics,” Huston continued. “It undermines public confidence in the process and can result in skepticism of future pardon decisions. Presidents are already hesitant to issue pardons; if the public is skeptical, it’ll make use of this power even more rare.”
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