Trump Criticizes Rep. Cuellar for Remaining a Democrat After Pardon

<p>President Donald Trump criticized incumbent Representative Henry Cuellar, a Democrat from Texas, referring to him as "a loser" on Wednesday. Trump expressed disappointment that Cuellar did not switch parties after receiving a presidential pardon.</p><p>Cuellar and his wife were pardoned by Trump last year while facing charges related to bribery and money laundering.</p><p>In a post on Truth Social, Trump stated, "In any event, I did the pardons, and made no deal, where a crooked politician would have, but I thought there would be a good chance that Cuellar, who was persecuted by Democrats because they didn’t like him, would have routinely gone over to the Republican Party — the people that saved him from years in prison."</p><p>Cuellar has served in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2005 and is currently campaigning for re-election.</p><p>Trump further remarked, "In any event, the man running against him, Tano Tijerina, is a STAR and, hopefully, will WIN! We call that payback for a disloyal and ungrateful person, a person whose life has been saved only to go back into the clutches of the people that tried so hard to destroy him. Henry Cuellar is a LOSER who, right now, should be serving a long-term jail sentence with his wife in a top-level penitentiary."</p><p>Trump also praised Tijerina, describing him as "a legendary Baseball Star, Great Athlete, respected County Judge, and fine person," and expressed hope that Tijerina would defeat Cuellar to demonstrate the consequences of perceived disloyalty.</p><p>Trump made these comments in a Truth Social post before similar remarks at a rally in San Antonio, Texas. Tijerina responded on X, stating, "Everyone in South Texas knows anything after Hello coming from Henry Cuellar is a lie. President Trump just confirmed that."</p><p>Fox News Digital reached out to Cuellar's campaign for comment on Thursday.</p><p>In a previous Truth Social post, Trump claimed that President Joe Biden had "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."</p>