Politics makes for strange bedfellows and even stranger regrets, as President Trump found out after pardoning Texas Democrat Henry Cuellar—only to watch him announce he’s running for Congress again as a Democrat just hours later, the New York Post reported.
Trump’s decision to erase Cuellar’s legal troubles confused Republicans and handed Democrats a reason to celebrate in one of the nation’s most competitive districts.
The commotion kicked off when the president pardoned Rep. Cuellar, 70, wiping away federal charges that had alleged bribery, money laundering, and dodgy dealings with foreign interests.
Cuellar’s troubles weren’t minor: he stood accused of pocketing $600,000 funneled from Azerbaijan’s state-owned oil giant and a bank in Mexico, through several consulting contracts and shadowy front companies linked to his wife.
Despite these accusations, Cuellar’s moderate record—and his history of surviving political ambushes from both major parties since 2004—made the move even more confounding for conservatives hoping to flip his seat.
This is a district the Cook Political Report earmarks as one of only six Democrat toss-ups, a tantalizing target that some in the GOP thought would finally turn red—until the pardon blunted those ambitions.
Trump took to Truth Social to share his regret, claiming that Cuellar’s reelection news came “only a short time after signing the Pardon,” and calling out what he described as a “lack of loyalty.”
The former president jabbed, saying, “next time, no more Mr. Nice guy!”—a phrase that surely echoes the frustration of conservatives who expected a different political calculation.
Cuellar, for his part, wasted no time confirming to the press that he intends to run again as a Democrat, unbowed by criticism and controversy alike.
Lost in the partisan crossfire was the story behind the pardon: Trump insisted he never spoke with Cuellar, his wife, or their daughters but was swayed after receiving a letter from Cuellar’s children asking him to spare their parents.
The heartfelt letter argued that Cuellar’s critique of Biden’s border policy and his “independence and honesty” led to the federal indictment—an indictment, they said, was shaped more by politics than actual wrongdoing.
They wrote, “With all our hearts, we humbly ask that you show mercy and compassion to our parents,” a request Trump decided to honor even as questions from his own party continued to swirl.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the indictment “very thin to begin with,” telling CNN that the result of Trump’s pardon was “exactly the right outcome.”
Republicans, meanwhile, face cold comfort: by absolving Cuellar before any election, Trump arguably made a crucial district even harder to win, with Democrats now boasting a scandal-free incumbent.
For Cuellar, who voted twice to impeach Trump, it’s quite the twist—enjoying his political salvation thanks to the same man he repeatedly tried to drive from office.
