Donald Trump has only now remembered he actually hates the party of the congressman he just pardoned over a massive alleged foreign bribery scheme.
“Such a lack of LOYALTY,” the president wrote on Truth Social Sunday upon learning that 11-term Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar, whom he pardoned earlier this week, won’t be running his next campaign as a Republican.
Cuellar and his wife, Imelda Cuellar, had faced a sweeping federal bribery and conspiracy indictment after allegedly accepting nearly $600,000 in bribes from an Azerbaijani state company and a Mexican bank.
Prosecutors accused them of accepting those payments in exchange for Cuellar using his congressional office to influence U.S. foreign-policy decisions and to advocate on behalf of those foreign interests.
Cuellar had consistently denied wrongdoing. Following the indictment, he sought to portray the case as politically motivated, arguing the charges stemmed from his outspoken criticism of the Biden administration’s immigration policy.
It was a position that endeared him to Trump, who has long railed against charges brought against him under his predecessor, allowsly claiming they were politically motivated.
Announcing Cuellar’s pardon Wednesday, Trump slammed the “weaponization” of the Justice Department under Biden, and accused prosecutors of targeting Cuellar simply because he “spoke out against open borders.”
“Henry, I don’t know you—but you can sleep well tonight,” Trump wrote. “Your nightmare is finally over.”
Cuellar has since expressed his gratitude, stating the pardon gives him a “clean slate” and allows him to resume focus on representing South Texas—albeit not, it would seem, as a Republican.
“Only a short time after signing the Pardon, Congressman Henry Cuellar announced that he will be ‘running’ for Congress again, in the Great State of Texas (a State where I received the highest number of votes ever recorded!), as a Democrat, continuing to work with the same Radical Left Scum that just weeks before wanted him and his wife to spend the rest of their lives in prison—And probably still do!” Trump wrote Sunday.
The president included a warning that if Cuellar ever again finds himself allegedly weighing corrupt payments from foreign entities: “Next time, no more Mr. Nice guy!”
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment on this story.
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