Trump urges ‘payback’ against Cuellar after unconditional pardon

President Donald Trump has urged Texans to back Henry Cuellar’s challenger, Tano Tijerina, as ‘payback’ for the congressman’s decision to remain a Democrat after receiving a full, unconditional pardon. The clemency warrant contains no requirement for the Texas congressman to switch parties. [1] [2]

The December 2025 warrant pardoned Henry and Imelda Cuellar for the federal offences enumerated in their case. Dr. Docket, a third-party service, lists a subsequent December final judgment dismissing the criminal case against both with prejudice. [2] [5]

Cuellar filed for re-election as a Democrat on 3 December 2025, the day of the public pardon announcement, The Texas Tribune reported. In an interview reported by KSAT on 5 December, he denied backroom deals, described himself as a conservative Democrat and said: ‘I’m very thankful to the president.’ He also credited his daughters with sending a pardon request. [9] [8]

Tijerina’s candidacy preceded the public pardon announcement, according to the Tribune. In a separate Truth Social post on 13 July 2026, Trump said he ‘never assumed’ Cuellar would run again, ‘certainly not as a Democrat’, and argued that Tijerina had stronger policy positions. [9] [7]

In a Truth Social post on 7 October 2026, Trump urged voters to back Cuellar’s challenger, Tano Tijerina, as ‘payback for a disloyal and ungrateful person’. He said he had thought there was ‘a good chance’ Cuellar would join the Republicans, but insisted: ‘I did the pardons, and made no deal.’ Mediaite reported that the post came shortly before a San Antonio rally. [1] [11]

A prosecution, not a sentence

Trump said in his latest post that the couple would have gone to prison ‘for over 20 years’. That was not a sentence handed down by a court: they were still awaiting trial when the pardon was announced. The Tribune reported in December 2025 that their trial had been postponed to April. [1] [9]

The original 2024 indictment contained 14 counts. Prosecutors alleged that the couple accepted at least $598,000 in bribes from an oil and gas company controlled by Azerbaijan’s government and a bank headquartered in Mexico City. Cuellar has said he and his wife are innocent. [3] [10]

A judge dismissed two counts in August 2025 at prosecutors’ request after a change in enforcement priorities, but refused to dismiss the entire indictment. Twelve counts remained at that stage. [4]

In that dismissal dispute, Judge Lee H. Rosenthal wrote that the couple had offered no evidence of government bad faith or intended future harassment. That observation concerned the handling of those two counts, not why the original investigation began. [4]

In his October post, Trump also alleges that Democrats persecuted Cuellar because they disliked him. [1] House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries separately called the indictment ‘very thin’ and supported the pardon, the Tribune reported on 3 December 2025. [9]

The sheriff’s separate case

Trump described Cuellar’s brother, Webb County Sheriff Martin Cuellar Jr., as having been indicted ‘a short time later’ on ‘the same charges’. [1] [10]

The Justice Department’s chronology distinguishes the indictment from its public disclosure: a grand jury returned the sheriff’s five-count indictment on 19 November 2025, before the December pardon. It was unsealed on 22 January 2026, after the pardon. The public disclosure therefore fits the later timing; the formal indictment does not. [6] [10] [2]

The cases share general fraud and conspiracy terminology, but the alleged conduct is different. The US Justice Department described misuse of sheriff’s-office funds, staff and resources for a private disinfecting business between 2020 and 2022. [6] [3] AP reported in January 2026 that Martin Cuellar had pleaded not guilty, and that his lawyer denied the sheriff’s involvement in the business. [10]