President Donald Trump publicly criticized U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, on Wednesday, calling the San Antonio-area congressman “a loser” for not switching to the Republican Party after receiving a presidential pardon last year.
Trump made the remarks in a lengthy post on Truth Social before repeating similar criticism later that day during a rally in San Antonio.
Trump pardoned Cuellar and his wife, Imelda, last year as the couple faced federal charges related to bribery and money laundering. In his post, Trump said he made “no deal” in issuing the pardons and expected Cuellar to join the Republican Party afterward.
“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,” Trump wrote.
Cuellar, who has represented his South Texas district in Congress since 2005, is seeking re-election this cycle. He faces a challenger, Tano Tijerina, whom Trump praised in the same post.
“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 longterm jail sentence with his wife in a top level penitentiary,” Trump wrote.
Trump also described Tijerina as “a legendary Baseball Star, Great Athlete, respected County Judge, and fine person,” and said he hoped voters would choose him over Cuellar.
“I am very proud of the fact that I didn’t make a deal with Cuellar, which I easily could have, but relied on his character, which turned out to be a faulty one,” Trump added.
Tijerina responded to Trump’s comments in a post on X Wednesday, writing, “Everyone in South Texas knows anything after Hello coming from Henry Cuellar is a lie. President Trump just confirmed that.”
Fox News Digital reported reaching out to Cuellar’s campaign for comment on Thursday.
Last year, when announcing the pardon, Trump had defended Cuellar, claiming on Truth Social 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.'” Trump said at the time that “Sleepy Joe went after the Congressman, and even the Congressman’s wonderful wife, Imelda, simply for speaking the TRUTH.”
