Trump Turns Against Pardoned Congressman In Texas

President Donald Trump is criticizing Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas after the Democratic congressman announced he would seek reelection despite receiving a presidential pardon from Trump. In a lengthy post on Truth Social Monday, Trump said he was surprised Cuellar chose to remain in Congress as a Democrat and accused him of turning against the expectations behind the pardon.

Trump described Cuellar as a “weak and incompetent version of me” and said he did not anticipate that the Texas lawmaker would return to the ballot after receiving clemency. Trump argued that his decision to pardon Cuellar and his wife, Imelda, was made after considering appeals from their family and other circumstances surrounding the case.

The president said he was influenced by emotional letters from Cuellar’s daughters, Christina and Catherine, who asked for mercy for their parents. Trump also said he believed Cuellar had been targeted by the Biden administration because of his positions on border security and other policy issues.

Cuellar and his wife had faced allegations involving nearly $600,000 in bribes and money laundering, charges that carried the possibility of lengthy prison sentences. Trump said he believed the congressman’s views on issues such as border policy were more moderate than those of other Democrats and suggested that those differences contributed to the federal investigation.

“Biden and his crew of Radical Left Thugs did not like those things about Cuellar,” Trump wrote, claiming the previous administration sought to punish the congressman politically.

Cuellar has represented Texas’s 28th Congressional District since 2005 and secured the Democratic nomination in March, advancing to the general election. Trump has since backed Cuellar’s Republican challenger, Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina, who won the GOP primary and will face Cuellar in the upcoming contest.

Trump said he is now actively working against Cuellar’s reelection bid, arguing that Tijerina is stronger on issues including border security, taxes, and the military.