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Cuellar and his wife had been facing bribery and conspiracy charges since last year
Andrew Feinbergin Washington, D.C.,Eric GarciaWednesday 03 December 2025 16:04 GMTComments
Texas Representative Henry Cuellar and his wife had been under indictment on bribery charges (Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)
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President Donald Trump on Wednesday said he was granting full pardons to Texas Representative Henry Cuellar and his wife Imelda, absolving them of the bribery and conspiracy charges on which they had been indicted by the Department of Justice last year.
In a post on Truth Social, Trump claimed that Cuellar, a Democrat who who has represented the Lone Star State’s 28th Congressional district since 2005, had been targeted by the Biden administration because of his hawkish stance on immigration issues.
“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,’” Trump said.
He further accused Biden and the Justice Department of having “went after the Congressman, and even the Congressman’s wonderful wife, Imelda, simply for speaking the TRUTH.”
Trump added: “Because of these facts, and others, I am hereby announcing my full and unconditional PARDON of beloved Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar, and Imelda. Henry, I don’t know you, but you can sleep well tonight — Your nightmare is finally over!”
The president’s latest use of the pardon power to undo a high-profile corruption investigation comes more than a year after prosecutors unveiled charges against the Cuellars for allegedly taking nearly $600,000 from a Azerbaijani-controlled company and a Mexican bank.
Prosecutors had alleged that Cuellar and his wife accepted bribes as part of an agreement to advance the interests of Azerbaijan and the bank in the US, according to an indictment.
The money was also allegedly laundered through a series of front companies and middlemen into shell companies owned by Imelda Cuellar.
Among other things, the congressman, who was at one time the co-chair of the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus allegedly agreed to influence legislation favorable to Azerbaijan and deliver a pro-Azerbaijan speech on the floor of the U.S. House.
A conservative Democrat, Cuellar has long been a target of progressives given his opposition to abortion rights. In 2020 and 2022, Jessica Cisneros staged a primary challenger against him, sending him to a runoff, in which he prevailed both times.
House Democratic leadership has consistently backed him and belive that he is the only Democrat who can win in the heavily conservative and Latino Rio Grande Valley.
He won re-election to the House last year after running opposed in the 2024 Democratic primary.
The longtime border hawk Cuellar has also sharply criticized other Democrats for their comparatively lax policies on immigration and started a coterie of Democrats who support stronger measures called Democrats for Border Security Task Force.
Cuellar’s family also has a prominent presence in his border district. His brother is the sheriff of Webb County while his sister served as a judge for Rio Bravo and Webb County. His concentration of power has earned him the nickname “the King Laredo,” where he lives.
In 2022, the FBI raided Mr Cuellar’s congressional office in Laredo and his home. His attorney at that time said the congressman was not the target of that investigation.
That search was part of a broader investigation related to Azerbaijan that saw FBI agents serve a raft of subpoenas and conduct interviews in Washington DC, and Texas.
Trump’s claim that Biden-era
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