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Washington — President Trump introduced Wednesday that he’s pardoning Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar, who was indicted final yr on greater than a dozen federal costs associated to bribery allegations.
Mr. Trump introduced the pardon for Cuellar and his spouse, Imelda, on Reality Social, claiming their prosecution was the results of weaponization by the Justice Division underneath former President Joe Biden.
“Henry, I do not know you, however you’ll be able to sleep nicely tonight — Your nightmare is lastly over!” the president wrote, alleging that Cuellar’s opposition to Biden’s immigration insurance policies was the explanation he was indicted.
The president wrote that the Texas Democrat “bravely spoke out towards Open Borders and the Biden Border ‘Disaster'” and accused Biden of intentionally focusing on the congressman and his spouse “merely for talking the TRUTH.”
Mr. Trump included in his social media publish a letter he obtained from Cuellar’s daughters requesting clemency for his or her mother and father.
The 2 ladies, Christina and Catherine Cuellar, wrote of their letter, dated Nov. 12, that they believed the congressman’s “independence and honesty could have contributed to how this case started.”
“He has by no means been afraid to talk his thoughts, particularly with regards to defending the folks of South Texas and securing the border from insurance policies of the earlier administration,” they informed the president.
Cuellar’s daughters additionally appeared to reference Mr. Trump’s personal legal instances, which they known as his “challenges.” They mentioned they prayed for the president and his household “as a result of we all know that behind the headlines, there are actual individuals who harm, who love and who nonetheless hope for higher days.”
Mr. Trump confronted federal costs in two instances introduced by former particular counsel Jack Smith, although each ended after he received the presidency final yr. A state prosecution in Georgia associated to the 2020 election was additionally dismissed final week. The president was convicted on 34 felony counts in New York in June 2024 and has appealed the conviction.
Cuellar thanked Mr. Trump for the pardon and for “taking the time to have a look at the details.”
“This resolution clears the air and lets us transfer ahead for South Texas. This pardon offers us a clear slate. The noise is gone. The work stays. And I intend to fulfill it head on,” he wrote on X. “Thanks Mr. President, God bless you, and God bless the USA of America.”
Home Democratic Chief Hakeem Jeffries mentioned Cuellar “is a well-respected member of the Home of Representatives, a beloved consultant down in Laredo and throughout South Texas. And for my part, the precise final result has been achieved.”
In final yr’s indictment towards the Cuellars, federal prosecutors accused them of accepting at the least $598,000 in bribes from an oil and fuel firm owned by the federal government of Azerbaijan and a Mexican financial institution. They alleged that the bribes have been laundered within the type of sham consulting contracts by entrance firms and middlemen into shell firms owned by Imelda Cuellar. The congressman’s spouse, in keeping with the indictment, “carried out little or no reputable” work underneath the consulting contracts.
The Justice Division additionally accused Cuellar of appearing as a international agent to profit the federal government of Azerbaijan.
He and his spouse confronted 14 counts, together with conspiracy, bribery and cash laundering. They pleaded not responsible. A trial in Cuellar’s case was set to start in April.
The congressman, who served as the highest Democrat on the Home Homeland Safety Appropriations Subcommittee, stepped down from the publish whereas the case continued. Cuellar was elected to the Home in 2005 and presently represents the twenty eighth Congressional District, which stretches from San Antonio south to the U.S.-Mexico border. He received reelection final yr, defeating his Republican opponent by greater than 13,000 votes.
The president’s resolution to grant clemency to Cuellar comes as Mr. Trump has confronted backlash for his latest use of the pardon energy, particularly for offering reprieve to Juan Orlando Hernandez, the previous president of Honduras who was convicted final yr of serving to to smuggle 400 tons of cocaine into the U.S.
Hernandez had been sentenced to 45 years in jail after he was discovered responsible of drug trafficking and weapons costs. However in saying his resolution to pardon Hernandez, Mr. Trump mentioned he was handled “very harshly and unfairly.”
Hernandez was launched from a federal jail in West Virginia on Monday.
Whereas Mr. Trump pardoned Hernandez, his administration has additionally ordered strikes on vessels within the Caribbean that have been allegedly carrying medication.
The transfer by the president might even have political reverberations. The Nationwide Republican Congressional Committee focused Cuellar’s seat as a possible pick-up for Republicans in subsequent yr’s midterm elections. His district was additionally amongst these redrawn by Texas Republicans throughout their mid-decade redistricting this summer season to bolster the GOP’s probabilities of holding onto their Home majority, although it shifted solely barely from an estimated 46% Democratic share underneath the outdated traces to 45% Democratic share underneath the brand new boundaries.
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