Trump announces pardon for Rep. Henry Cuellar

Ryan Tarinelli, CQ-Roll Call on Dec 3, 2025

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WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump announced a pardon of Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife on Wednesday, a move that would wipe away a criminal case that accused the couple of taking about $600,000 in bribes from the government of Azerbaijan and a foreign bank headquartered in Mexico City.

Trump said in a social media post that he was announcing a “full and unconditional” pardon of the Texas Democrat and his wife, Imelda. “Henry, I don’t know you, but you can sleep well tonight — Your nightmare is finally over!” Trump said in the post.

The couple was indicted last year under the Biden administration. Cuellar and his wife each initially had faced a range of federal criminal charges, including five counts of money laundering, two counts of bribery of a federal official and two counts of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud, according to the Justice Department.

The case in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas has been pending, and the couple have not been convicted. Cuellar at the time of the indictment asserted his and his wife’s innocence and that his actions were consistent with those of his colleagues.

Cuellar, in a social media post, thanked Trump for “his tremendous leadership and for taking the time to look at the facts.”

“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,” Cuellar wrote. “This pardon gives us a clean slate. The noise is gone. The work remains. And I intend to meet it head on.”

Trump, without evidence, in the post accused Biden of using the FBI and Justice Department of going after a member of his own party and said 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,” Trump wrote in the post. There has been no overt public evidence that Biden ordered the prosecution against Cuellar.

The Justice Department, in a press release last year announcing the charges, said Cuellar allegedly agreed to use his office to influence U.S. foreign policy in favor of Azerbaijan and agreed to influence legislative activity and to advise and pressure high-ranking U.S. executive branch officials regarding measures beneficial to the Mexican bank.

The federal indictment alleged in one scheme that Cuellar and his wife were recruited by the company controlled by the Azerbaijani government shortly after a 2013 trip to Turkey and Azerbaijan.

The couple then entered multiple sham contracts with the company to receive bribes, the indictment alleged, in exchange for advocating for Azerbaijani interests in Congress.

A judge in September denied a motion from Cuellar to dismiss the case. Cuellar had argued the indictment allegations and charges are so intertwined with his official legislative acts that it infringes on the Speech or Debate Clause. He had appealed that ruling.