09 Oct Trump Blasts Rep. Cuellar Over Refusal to Switch Parties Post-Pardon

President Donald Trump went after U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar on Truth Social Wednesday night, calling the South Texas congressman “disloyal” and “ungrateful” for running for reelection as a Democrat after Trump pardoned him last year.

Trump said he made no deal in exchange for the pardon but expected Cuellar to switch to the Republican Party. He said he was shocked when Cuellar filed for reelection as a Democrat. The post came ahead of Trump’s rally in San Antonio.

Trump also backed Cuellar’s Republican opponent, Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina, who left the Democratic Party in 2024 to run for Congress. Most of the post, though, was aimed at Cuellar. Trump said he should be serving a long prison sentence in a top-level penitentiary, along with his wife, Imelda, whom Trump also pardoned. He added that he wished the couple’s daughters, who asked him for clemency, had talked their parents into switching parties.

Cuellar answered with a statement saying he’s staying focused on his district. He listed reining in ICE overreach, lowering costs and protecting Medicare and Social Security as top priorities. He said his family is grateful the case is behind them, and that he would keep the president and his family in his prayers.

Cuellar and his wife were indicted in 2024 on a dozen counts of bribery, money laundering and conspiracy. Prosecutors alleged the couple took nearly $600,000 in bribes from an oil company controlled by the government of Azerbaijan and from a Mexican bank. They said the money went through shell companies owned by Imelda, and that Cuellar used his seat in Congress to advance the interests of Azerbaijan and the bank in return.

Trump defended Cuellar at the time. In a May 2024 post, he said the Biden administration targeted him because he wouldn’t go along with its border policies. Cuellar’s daughters wrote to Trump in November 2025 asking for clemency for their parents, and Trump granted it the next month.

Cuellar’s decision to stay in the party drew sharp pushback from Trump and top Republicans. Tijerina has called him a flip-flopper and argued that the pardon suggests Cuellar was guilty. Cuellar has always maintained his innocence.

The pardon ended the case before the couple went to trial, but the charges remain a talking point in a race both parties are watching closely.

Cuellar is in a competitive race for Texas’ 28th Congressional District. Under its new boundaries, Trump won it by more than 10 points in 2024, though Democrat Beto O’Rourke would have carried it in his 2018 Senate race. After the pardon, the Cook Political Report moved the race from Toss-up to Lean Democratic.

Early voting begins Oct. 19, and Election Day is Nov. 3.