President Donald Trump on Wednesday granted full and unconditional pardons to Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife, Imelda, ending a federal prosecution that accused them of accepting nearly $600,000 in bribes and laundering the funds.
The couple was indicted last year on charges alleging payments from an Azerbaijani state-controlled company and a Mexican bank were funneled through sham consulting contracts. Both denied wrongdoing.
Trump announced the pardons on Truth Social, calling the prosecution politically motivated.
“For years, the Biden Administration weaponized the Justice System against their Political Opponents,” he wrote. “One of the clearest examples of this was when Crooked Joe used the FBI and DOJ to ‘take out’ a member of his own Party after Highly Respected Congressman Henry Cuellar bravely spoke out against Open Borders, and the Biden Border ‘Catastrophe.’”
He added, “Sleepy Joe went after the Congressman, and even the Congressman’s wonderful wife, Imelda, simply for speaking the TRUTH… I am hereby announcing my full and unconditional PARDON of beloved Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar, and Imelda. Henry, I don’t know you, but you can sleep well tonight — Your nightmare is finally over!”
According to CBS News, Cuellar’s daughters, Christina and Catherine, wrote a letter to Trump on Nov. 12 requesting clemency.
They praised their father’s independence and service to South Texas, noting his commitment to protecting the border and referencing Trump’s own legal challenges.
Cuellar has represented Texas’ 28th Congressional District, stretching from San Antonio to the U.S.-Mexico border, since 2005.
Before Congress, he spent 14 years in the Texas House of Representatives and briefly served as Texas Secretary of State.
Raised as the eldest of eight children by migrant farmworkers in Laredo, Cuellar was the first in his family to attend college and earned multiple advanced degrees, including a Juris Doctor and Ph.D. in Government from the University of Texas at Austin.
Known as a pragmatic centrist, Cuellar has cultivated a reputation for bipartisan cooperation on trade, border security and federal budget issues.
He has held key roles on the House Appropriations Committee and Homeland Security Subcommittees, shaping funding priorities for his district and national security programs.
The pardon is the latest in a series of high-profile clemencies granted by Trump this year.
Resist the Mainstream recently reported that Trump granted a full pardon to former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández, who had been convicted of helping smuggle 400 tons of cocaine into the U.S.
The move is part of a series of high-profile clemencies granted this year, including Rudy Giuliani, former Tennessee House Speaker Glen Casada and Cade Cothren, his former chief of staff, Rod Blagojevich and Changpeng Zhao, founder of Binance.
Federal prosecutors had also accused Cuellar of acting as a foreign agent to benefit Azerbaijan, alleging he used his congressional influence for financial gain while concealing transactions.
Cuellar and his wife pleaded not guilty, and he stepped down from his position as top Democrat on the House Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee during the case.
The pardons come amid heightened attention on Trump’s use of clemency powers, with supporters arguing the moves correct politically motivated prosecutions and critics questioning the precedent set for high-profile political figures.
