Trump Rages at Democratic Congressman He Pardoned, Saying He Should Have Joined the GOP

President Trump has long regretted his decision to pardon a Democratic lawmaker, Congressman Henry Cuellar, but on Wednesday, he took those grievances to the campaign stage. Mr. Trump says Mr. Cuellar should have joined the GOP in a show of loyalty after the president granted him and his wife pardons last year. Mr. Cuellar, a longtime congressman from a south Texas district, was indicted on federal charges in 2024 alongside his wife, Imelda Cuellar. Mr. Cuellar and his wife were accused by prosecutors of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars from an oil and gas company owned by the government of Azerbaijan, as well as from a commercial bank in Mexico. Mr. and Mrs. Cuellar maintained their innocence throughout their legal troubles. In December 2025, Mr. Trump issued a pardon for both Mr. and Mrs. Cuellar. On the same day, Mr. Cuellar told reporters on Capitol Hill that he had no prior knowledge that the pardon was coming from the president. “I want to thank President Trump for this action that he took,” Mr. Cuellar told reporters at the time. He announced that he would not change parties or retire from Congress, declaring that, “nothing has changed.”On Wednesday, Mr. Trump again reiterated that he was expecting Mr. Cuellar to join the House GOP, which currently holds a three-seat margin in Congress’s lower chamber. He is now asking south Texas voters to show up for Mr. Cuellar’s Republican opponent in the deep-red district Mr. Cuellar currently represents. “I did the pardons, and made no deal, where a crooked politician would have, but I thought there would be a good chance that Cuellar, who was persecuted by Democrats because they didn’t like him, would have routinely gone over to the Republican Party,” Mr. Trump wrote on Truth Social before his rally at San Antonio on Wednesday. “Shockingly, Cuellar announced, only a few days later, that he is going to remain a Dumocrat. Many considered this to be a tremendous act of disloyalty, and certainly, showed him to be an extremely ungrateful person.”Mr. Cuellar was a target of Texas Republicans’ 2025 redistricting effort, which saw the GOP draw new congressional lines to give the party a better chance at picking up five House districts in the Lone Star State. In 2024, Mr. Trump won Mr. Cuellar’s current district by seven points, though after the 2025 redistricting, Mr. Trump won the newly drawn district by 11 points. According to the most recent public poll of the 2026 election, Mr. Cuellar is up 11 points over his Republican opponent, Webb County Judge Tano Tijerina. At his rally at San Antonio on Wednesday — where the president was rallying GOP voters ahead of the midterms — Mr. Trump again bashed Mr. Cuellar for refusing to join the Republican Party. “I thought there would be a good chance that Cuellar might say, ‘Wow, he did something really wonderful for me,’” Mr. Trump said at his rally. “I saved him from going to jail for, like, I think 15 or 20 years.”

Trump Rages at Democratic Congressman He Pardoned, Saying He Should Have Joined the GOP

Trump Rages at Democratic Congressman He Pardoned, Saying He Should Have Joined the GOP

More from the New York Sun

Trump Threatens To ‘Terminate’ Two Political Advisors Who Did Work for Pro-Russian Government in the Balkans

Latin America Swings to the Right, in Hemispheric Echo of Trump’s 2024 Victory

Democrats in Minnesota Face Tougher Than Expected Election Prospects Amid Concerns Over Fraud, Violence in Somali Community

‘Arsenal’ of Naval Strength Returns to Maryland Despite No Love Lost Between Federal, State Officials

Students at SUNY Purchase Plant Herbal Abortion Garden To Fight ‘Reproductive’ Slavery

Amid the Chill of Communist Warsaw, ‘Winter of the Crow’ Fails To Take Flight

Mamdani Booed by His Base at October 7 Vigil for ‘Betraying’ the Palestinian Movement

An Israeli College Community Remembers 50 People It Lost on October 7

More from the New York Sun

Trump Threatens To ‘Terminate’ Two Political Advisors Who Did Work for Pro-Russian Government in the Balkans

Latin America Swings to the Right, in Hemispheric Echo of Trump’s 2024 Victory

Democrats in Minnesota Face Tougher Than Expected Election Prospects Amid Concerns Over Fraud, Violence in Somali Community

‘Arsenal’ of Naval Strength Returns to Maryland Despite No Love Lost Between Federal, State Officials

Students at SUNY Purchase Plant Herbal Abortion Garden To Fight ‘Reproductive’ Slavery

Amid the Chill of Communist Warsaw, ‘Winter of the Crow’ Fails To Take Flight

Mamdani Booed by His Base at October 7 Vigil for ‘Betraying’ the Palestinian Movement

An Israeli College Community Remembers 50 People It Lost on October 7