Name: Trump pardons Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife
Uploaded: 2025-12-04T00:25:46.262Z
Duration: 2 min 55 s
Description: President Trump pardoned Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas and his wife on Wednesday. The couple was indicted in 2024 on more than a dozen federal charges. Cuellar has denied any wrongdoing.

President Trump pardoned Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas and his wife on Wednesday. The couple was indicted in 2024 on more than a dozen federal charges. Cuellar has denied any wrongdoing.

Washington

President Trump granted a pardon to Texas Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar and his wife, who were indicted on multiple federal charges, including allegations of accepting $600,000 in bribes. Cuellar, who denied any wrongdoing and was re-elected in 2024, will no longer face trial due to the pardon.

The president justified the pardon by citing Cuellar's opposition to open border policies and claimed the charges were politically motivated. This action is part of a broader trend in which President Trump has issued pardons and clemencies to political allies and supporters during his second term.

Trump pardons Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife

Welcome back to The Takeout. President Trump today pardoned Texas Democratic Congressman Henry Cuellar and his wife. They were indicted last year on more than a dozen federal charges, among them an allegation they received $600,000 in bribes. Cuellar denied wrongdoing and won re-election in 2024. Weijia Jiang joins us from the White House. Weijia, I want to play sound from the president about this from this afternoon. The context he said that was behind the pardon. Let's quickly listen. He's a respected person. He was treated very badly because he said that people should not be allowed to pour into our country. And he was right. He didn't like open borders. He didn't. He was on the border. You know, he represents a very respected man. He represents the people on the border. And he saw what was happening. And as soon as he made that statement, I then said, I'll bet he gets indicted. And that's what happened. Weijia, take it from there. Well, Major, you just heard President Trump explain why he thought Cuellar and his wife were indicted. And he says it was much like what he personally experienced, which he characterizes as a witch hunt. Now, it is true that Congressman Cuellar was one of the most outspoken members of Congress when it came to the Biden administration's immigration policies. Obviously, he represents a district right along the southern border. He said that there were open borders, that there weren't enough resources being used to curb immigration, and that the asylum policies under the Biden administration were not adequate. But two things can be true, right? That can be true. And he could have been engaged in criminal activity, which is why he was indicted. Now, it's important to note he was not convicted. His trial is set for sometime next year. That will now not happen now that he has received this pardon. But when you ask President Trump, he would likely say, as we just heard, that he should never have been charged in the first place because he claims those charges were not justified, but only politically motivated. The reason this matters, Major, is because it's part of a pattern that we've seen really since the president took his second term in office. One of his first actions was to pardon more than 1,500 people who were convicted as part of the January 6th assault on the Capitol. Just this week, he pardoned a former Honduran president who was convicted, by the way, here in the U.S. for drug trafficking because he said, he being the president, said that he was set up by the Biden administration. So the pattern is that it seems the president hands out pardons and clemencies to allies and supporters, Major. Weijia Jiang, North Law of the White House, thank you so very much. I appreciate it.

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