Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) was one of the few Democrats who spoke up against Joe Biden’s immigration policies during that administration.
Toward the latter part of the prior administration, Cuellar was indicted on bribery charges, which he claimed were manufactured because he was calling out the then-president.
As Trump has done with others who have claimed that Biden weaponized the DOJ against them for opposing his policies, the president just announced a pardon for the Texas Democrat.
On May 3, 2024, the Biden DOJ announced that it had indicted Cuellar. The DOJ press release, in part, stated, “According to court documents, beginning in at least December 2014 and continuing through at least November 2021, Congressman Cuellar and Imelda Cuellar allegedly accepted approximately $600,000 in bribes from two foreign entities: an oil and gas company wholly owned and controlled by the Government of Azerbaijan, and a bank headquartered in Mexico City.”
It continued, “The bribe payments were allegedly laundered, pursuant to sham consulting contracts, through a series of front companies and middlemen into shell companies owned by Imelda Cuellar, who performed little to no legitimate work under the contracts. In exchange for the bribes paid by the Azerbaijani oil and gas company, Congressman Cuellar allegedly agreed to use his office to influence U.S. foreign policy in favor of Azerbaijan.”
It further stated, “In exchange for the bribes paid by the Mexican bank, Congressman Cuellar allegedly agreed to influence legislative activity and to advise and pressure high-ranking U.S. Executive Branch officials regarding measures beneficial to the bank.”
Cuellar immediately came out to defend himself, insisting that he did nothing wrong, but what would we expect him to say? He also stated that Biden was coming after him for pushing back on immigration, but again, this was a tried-and-true playbook that we have seen from Trump, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, and others.
I have to admit, I kind of saw this coming, as Trump has proven that anyone he believes was mistreated by Biden’s DOJ or who in any way claims the DOJ was weaponized against them has received a pardon in recent months.
Trump, on Wednesday, announced Cuellar's pardon, stating, “For years, the Biden Administration weaponized the Justice System against their Political Opponents, and anyone who disagreed with them.”
His post continued, “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.' Sleepy Joe went after the Congressman, and even the Congressman’s wonderful wife, Imelda, simply for speaking the TRUTH.”
I have made my position clear on corrupt politicians many times, so I am not going to rehash it again. Having said that, I think Trump just found himself a new ally in Congress for all things immigration on the Democrat side of the aisle.
Cueller was clearly ecstatic over the clemency grant, stating, “I thank God for standing with my family and I during this difficult time. This decision clears the air and lets us move forward for South Texas. This pardon gives us a clean slate. The noise is gone. The work remains. And I intend to meet it head on.”
Trump later added, “Henry, I don’t know you, but you can sleep well tonight -- Your nightmare is finally over!”
The trial for Cuellar was set to begin in April, but two of the charges against him had already been dismissed. Cuellar explained, “The evidence was never there.”
I don’t know if he committed crimes or not, but I would have preferred to see this trial play out just to be sure. I have seen Cuellar speak a few times in Texas, and while he does not come off as someone who is clearly corrupt, you just never know. If he was taking bribes, we can only hope he learned his lesson after getting this massive holiday gift from Trump.
