President Donald Trump mentioned he’ll challenge a preemptive pardon for Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) on Wednesday, successfully voiding Cuellar’s 2024 indictment for bribery.
In a publish on his Reality Social platform, Trump introduced a “full and complete PARDON of beloved Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar” and his spouse, Imelda Cuellar. Trump claimed that Cuellar’s indictment stemmed from the Biden administration, which “weaponized the Justice System against their Political Opponents, and anyone who disagreed with them.” In Cuellar’s case, Trump claimed that the congressman was focused as a result of he “bravely spoke out against Open Borders,” earlier than including, “Henry, I don’t know you, but you can sleep well tonight — Your nightmare is finally over!”
Cuellar, an 11-term congressman from South Texas, and his spouse have been indicted by the Division of Justice in Might 2024 for allegedly accepting $600,000 from an Azerbaijani state-owned oil firm and a Mexican financial institution in trade for his assist to sway U.S. international coverage in favor of Azerbaijan and legislative acts to help the Mexican financial institution. The indictment charged Cuellar and his spouse with illegally accepting bribes and performing as unregistered international brokers. Cuellar and his spouse have denied all wrongdoing.
“I want to thank President Trump for his tremendous leadership and for taking the time to look at the facts,” Cuellar mentioned in a publish on X. “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.”
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Trump’s preemptive pardon for Cuellar comes after he instigated months of battle inside the Justice Division over the case in opposition to the congressman. After inheriting the case from the Biden administration, Trump sought to kill it as he noticed Cuellar, a conservative Democrat, as an ally on border enforcement. Justice Division management in the end determined to go ahead with the case however dropped costs introduced beneath the Overseas Brokers Registration Act, as Trump suspended prosecutions beneath that legislation when he took workplace.
However Trump’s intervention now kills the case solely. It comes at a very odd time for Republicans. Cuellar’s district was one in every of 5 Home seats considerably altered by Texas Republicans to incorporate extra GOP voters after they did mid-decade redistricting at Trump’s behest in August. And a number one GOP recruit, Webb County Choose Tano Tijerina, jumped into the race in opposition to Cuellar on Tuesday.
Cuellar represents a Texas district on the border with Mexico that swung laborious in the direction of Republicans over the previous three election cycles. Democratic presidential candidates dominated the district up till 2020, when Joe Biden solely received it by 7 share factors. In 2024, Trump flipped the district, profitable it by seven factors.
Even within the face of the indictment and the shifting partisan terrain, Cuellar received reelection in 2024 by 5 factors. This was the tightest election Cuellar confronted since he first ran in 2004. That’s why Texas Republicans focused his district of their mid-decade redistricting push. That new district would have voted for Trump by 11 factors in 2024 ― simply sufficient to beat Cuellar’s margin.
However Trump has now handed Cuellar, who filed for reelection on Wednesday, an enormous present as he runs in an much more GOP-leaning district. Not solely has he lifted the cloud of indictment from Cuellar’s head, however he additionally praised the Democratic congressman as a “beloved” lawmaker who stood as much as his personal celebration.
