President Trump slammed Rep. Henry Cuellar on Sunday for what he called "a lack of loyalty" because the Democratic congressman announced his plans to run again as a Democrat, rather than switch to the Republican party, in his next bid to represent Texas in the U.S. House.
In a social media post, Mr. Trump suggested that he may have expected Cuellar to help Republicans maintain their slim majority in the House during the 2026 midterm elections after the congressman was granted clemency.
Cuellar is a Democrat and has represented Texas' 28th district as a member of that party since 2005. Mr. Trump recently pardoned him and his wife, Imelda Cuellar, who were both indicted last year on federal bribery charges. Their two daughters, Christina and Catherine, had sent Mr. Trump a letter in November asking that he pardon their parents.
The president claimed the allegations against them resulted from political targeting by the Justice Department under former President Joe Biden, writing in multiple Truth Social posts about attacks on Cuellar from within the Democratic Party over his views on immigration and border security.
Shortly after Mr. Trump issued the pardons, Cuellar announced his decision to launch another congressional campaign, still as a Democratic candidate. In a Truth Social post on Sunday about Cuellar, Mr. Trump slammed the congressman for not switching parties in the wake of the president's favor.
"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 provably still do!" wrote Mr. Trump, characterizing Cuellar's move as "such a lack of LOYALTY."
"Next time, no more Mr. Nice guy!" the president added.
Cuellar discussed the pardon on Sunday during an appearance on Fox News' "Sunday Morning Futures," saying he believed the indictment against him and his wife was an act of retaliation by Biden administration officials over his criticism of the former president's border policies.
"I now look at all the evidence, and looking at everything, definitely I feel that I was weaponized, that he [former President Biden] used the department to go after myself and my family," said Cuellar. "And I'll tell you something, if they want to come after me because I was a critic about open borders, that's one thing. But you don't bring the family in. You just don't do that."
CBS News contacted Cuellar's office for comment on Mr. Trump's Truth Social post but did not receive an immediate response.
A party switch would have been an unexpected bonus for Republicans after the GOP-run Legislature redrew the state's congressional districts this year at Mr. Trump's behest. Cuellar's South Texas district, which includes parts of metro San Antonio, was not one of the Democratic districts that Republicans changed substantially.
