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Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, told Fox News Digital on Wednesday evening that his pardon — and its timing — had come as a surprise.
“I got a text from a media [member, who] says, ‘Do you wanna talk about this pardon?’ And I thought they were talking about the president of Honduras,” Cuellar said, referring to a separate pardon Trump announced earlier this week.
“And they said, ‘No, no, no — not the president of Honduras. Your pardon.’ So, I didn’t know,” Cuellar said.
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The pardon came as Cuellar filed to run for re-election on Wednesday, stating his intent to run as a Democrat.
In May 2024, the Department of Justice (DOJ) charged Cuellar with bribery and acting as a foreign agent for having allegedly accepted $600,000 from the Azerbaijan government in return for the congressman’s assistance in Washington.
“Congressman 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,” the DOJ said in a press release at the time.
“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,” the DOJ added.
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While indicted, Cuellar had yet to receive a conviction. He has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing.
The embattled congressman has a track record of voting against the majority of his party. Since the beginning of the 119th Congress, Cuellar has broken with the prevailing Democrat consensus 62 times — accounting for 21.3% of all the chamber’s considerations. Except for Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., no one in the chamber has a higher rate of dissension with their own party.
Cuellar, who has faced questions about whether he intends to change parties, said that the timing of his filing — and its overlap with his pardon — was purely linked by happenstance.
“The timing was just a coincidence,” Cuellar said. “I had just been busy watching the UT game versus [Texas] A&M.”
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Cuellar did not address why he believed he had received a pardon.
“I want to thank the president, President Donald Trump, for his actions. Number two, I certainly want to thank God. It was a very difficult time. And the third thing is: Back to work,” Cuellar said.
