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Photo: Graeme Sloan/Bloomberg/Getty Images

When Donald Trump abruptly pardoned indicted TexasDemocratic congressman Henry Cuellar and his wife last week, it seems he didn’t bother to consult Texas Republicans, for whom the exculpatory action had to be deeply annoying. After all, Trump had just forced the Texas legislature to conduct a mid-decade gerrymander of U.S. House seats in order to boost the GOP’s hopes of hanging onto the chamber in the 2026 midterms. Yet here was Trump taking away one of their main talking points (Cuellar’s 2024 federal indictment for allegedly working with his wife on a long-term scheme to take bribes from the government of Azerbaijan and a Mexican bank) against one of their main 2026 targets.

Trump, acting in response to a letter from Cuellar’s daughters begging for a pardon and touting their parents’ many virtues, appeared to view the Texas congressman as a fellow victim of “lawfare” from Joe Biden’s Justice Department. On Truth Social, Trump had no compunctions about asserting that the indictment was purely and simply payback for Cuellar’s warnings that Biden’s border-control policies were too weak:

For years, the Biden Administration weaponized the Justice System against their Political Opponents, and anyone who disagreed with them. 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.” Sleepy Joe went after the Congressman, and even the Congressman’s wonderful wife, Imelda, simply for speaking the TRUTH.

Cuellar thanked Trump for the pardon and then that same day formally announced the resumption of his long political career, as Politico reported:

Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar filed for reelection Wednesday as a Democrat and told reporters he had no intention to retire or switch parties hours after President Donald Trump announced pardons for him and his wife.

“It came as a surprise,” Cuellar told a small group of reporters about the pardon. “I want to thank President Trump for this. … Now we clear the air. Nothing has changed, and we’re going to be ready to win re-election again.”

And why shouldn’t Cuellar take this step? He had long protested his innocence, and now he was in the clear. As a distinctly heterodox Democrat (he is, among other things, the very last of the anti-abortion Democrats in Congress), he could remain one of the last vestiges of the ancient Texas tradition of conservative Democrats who work across party lines without ever completely abandoning the Democratic Party. He didn’t owe the president who recognized his innocence anything other than his profound thanks.

For his part, Trump waited a few days and then exploded in another Truth Social post on December 7, saying in part:

I never spoke to the Congressman, his wife, or his daughters, but felt very good about fighting for a family that was tormented by very sick and deranged people - They were treated sooo BADLY! I signed the papers, and said to people in the Oval Office that I just did a very good, perhaps life saving, thing. God was very happy with me that day! THEN IT HAPPENED!!! Only a short time after signing the Pardon, Congressman Henry Cuellar announced that he will be “running” for Congress again, in the Great State of Texas (a State where I received the highest number of votes ever recorded!), as a Democrat, continuing to work with the same Radical Left Scum that just weeks before wanted him and his wife to spend the rest of their lives in Prison - And probably still do! Such a lack of LOYALTY, something that Texas Voters, and Henry’s daughters, will not like. Oh’ well, next time, no more Mr. Nice guy! PRESIDENT DONALD J. TRUMP

In other words, Trump thought he had an implicit quid pro quo agreement with Cuellar that if he rescued the congressman and his wife from the shadow of the hoosegow, he would, as an act of “loyalty,” either retire or change parties. That he did not act on or even acknowledge this corrupt bargain clearly enraged the president, who now seems less convinced that Cuellar’s innocence was the reason he reached down to bless him with clemency. We’ll probably never know if this was Trump’s understanding of the deal all along, or if his fury at Cuellar’s ingratitude arose after Texas Republicans bridled at his unwelcome generosity.

Cuellar seems puzzled at this outburst, telling Fox News after absorbing this presidential thunderbolt:

“I don’t vote party,” said Cuellar, who is seeking his 12th term in Congress. “I vote for what’s right for the country. …”

He told Fox News that Trump was on his mind when he attended church earlier in the day.

“I prayed for the president. I prayed for his family, and I prayed for the presidency because if the president succeeds, the country succeeds,” Cuellar said.

It’s reasonably clear thanks and prayers weren’t what Trump had in mind as expressions of “loyalty.” When the Boss holds out his ring to kiss, the gratitude needs to be perpetual. But he won’t make that mistake again. Perhaps future corrupt bargains will be in writing.

Trump Fumes at Pardoned Democrat for Lack of Corruption

Trump Fumes at Pardoned Democrat for Lack of Corruption