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U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday pardoned Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife in a federal corruption and conspiracy case, citing what he called a “militarized” justice system.
Trump, who has claimed his own legal troubles were a partisan witch hunt, said on social media without presenting evidence that Cuellar and his wife, Imelda, were sued because the congressman criticized President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.
Trump, a Republican, said Cuellar “bravely spoke out against open borders” and accused Biden, a Democrat, of attacking the congressman and his wife “simply for telling the TRUTH.”
Federal authorities had accused Cuellar, 70, and his wife of accepting thousands of dollars in exchange for representing the interests of an energy company controlled by Azerbaijan and a bank in Mexico. Cuellar is accused of agreeing to influence legislation favorable to Azerbaijan and giving a pro-Azerbaijani speech before the United States House of Representatives.
Cuellar said he and his wife were innocent. The couple’s trial was scheduled to begin next April.
“Henry, I don’t know you, but you can sleep well tonight,” Trump wrote in his social media post announcing the pardon. “Your nightmare is finally over!”
This isn’t the only Democrat Trump pardoned
Cuellar, who has served in Congress for more than 20 years, is a moderate Democrat who represents a region on the Texas-Mexico border and has a history of breaking with his party on immigration and guns.
He was one of the most vocal critics of the Biden administration’s response to the record number of migrants crossing the U.S.-Mexico border. He is also one of the last Democrats in Congress to oppose abortion rights.
Cuellar is not the only Democrat to receive pardons this year. In February, he pardoned former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, five years after he commuted his sentence in a political corruption case.
As in Cuellar’s case, Trump suggested that New York Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat, was facing federal corruption charges because he made comments critical of Biden’s immigration policies.
Trump did not pardon Adams, but after he took office, the Justice Department decided to drop charges against the mayor, who had begun working with the Republican administration on immigration issues.
A senior Justice Department official, who was also Trump’s defense attorney in several of his cases, intervened to call for the case to be dismissed.
