Trump criticizes Henry Cuellar for not switching parties after pardon

Donald Trump blasted Democrat Henry Cuellar for his “lack of loyalty” for not defecting to the Republican Party after being elected. Pardoned by the President of the United States.

In issuing the pardon on Wednesday, Trump said the Texas representative, who was indicted last year on bribery and money laundering charges, became a political target of the Biden administration after “bravely speaking out against open borders.”

Hours after being pardoned, Cuellar filed for re-election as a Democrat, dashing Republicans’ hopes that he would switch parties and take a slim majority in the House.

“Such a lack of loyalty,” Trump said of Cuellar on social media. “Oh, well, next time, no more Mr. Nice Guy!”

The Justice Department under the Biden administration has accused Cuellar and his wife of accepting $600,000 (£450,600) from Azerbaijan’s state oil company and an unnamed Mexican bank in exchange for benefits in Congress.

The couple, who maintain their innocence, were charged in 2024 with 14 counts, including conspiracy, bribery, wire fraud, money laundering and violating a ban on acting as agents of a foreign organization.

In a social media post on Sunday, Trump accused “radical left” Democrats of “mercilessly” pursuing Cuellar, a moderate Democrat, and “evilly seeking” to “destroy” him and his family, “all because Henry wanted so strongly about border security, and rightly so!”

Trump said in the lengthy post that he had never spoken to the congressman or his family but was “very happy to fight for his family” because they “were treated very badly!”

Trump added that Cuellar’s decision to run again as a Democrat despite receiving a pardon “continues to work with the same radical leftist scum who just weeks ago wanted him and his wife to spend the rest of their lives in prison – and probably still do!”

Trump wrote that this “lack of loyalty” would not satisfy Texas voters or Cuellar’s daughters, who wrote to the president urging him to pardon their parents.

Still, Cuellar doubled down on his intention to stay in the Democratic Party, telling Fox News on Sunday: “I’m an American, I’m a Texan, I’m a Democrat — in that order.”

Asked to respond to Trump’s social media posts, Cuellar said: “I’m a conservative Democrat, but I will work with the president.”

Cuellar added that Trump was on his mind when he went to church on Sunday morning.

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

Trump’s attack on Cuellar is the latest example of the loyalty the president expects from the people he helps.

Last month, a group of federal unions filed a lawsuit against the Trump administration, accusing them of including “loyalty issues” on thousands of federal job applications. The question asks applicants to identify Trump policy initiatives that are important to them and describe how they personally would advance Trump’s agenda.

Trump has long said loyalty is most important to him.

“I value loyalty above all else—more than brains, drive, and energy,” he once said.