President Donald Trump is publicly fuming at Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar — the very man he pardoned last week — accusing him of “disloyalty” for choosing to run for reelection as a Democrat rather than cross over into the GOP.
The outburst, posted on Trump’s Truth Social account, reveals just how transactional his expectations were when he granted clemency to Cuellar and his wife, who had been charged in a sweeping federal bribery and conspiracy case. The pardons erased one of the highest-profile corruption trials heading into 2026. In Trump’s view, they should have also produced a political convert.
Instead, Cuellar thanked Trump — and stayed a Democrat.
“Such a lack of LOYALTY”
Trump’s message dripped with frustration:
“Such a lack of LOYALTY, something that Texas voters, and Henry’s daughters, will not like… next time, no more Mr. Nice Guy!”
The reference to Cuellar’s daughters — who personally appealed to Trump to pardon their parents — only intensified the sense that Trump believed he was owed something in return.
The former president suggested that Cuellar should abandon the party that oversaw the prosecution under President Joe Biden’s Justice Department, accusing the Democrat of continuing to work with “the same RADICAL LEFT” that “wanted him and his wife in prison — and probably still do!”
Cuellar: “I’m an American, a Texan, and a Democrat — in that order”
Cuellar, appearing on Fox’s Sunday Morning Futures, didn’t take the bait. Calm and measured, he said he remains a conservative Democrat, willing to work with Trump or anyone else “to find common ground.”
He invoked a famous line from Lyndon B. Johnson:
“I’m an American, a Texan, and a Democrat — in that order.”
Cuellar added that prioritizing party over country “is a disservice,” signaling that he won’t be pushed into abandoning the political identity he has held for decades.
He also revealed he had prayed for Trump that morning:
“If the president succeeds, the country succeeds.”
Trump’s strategic irritation
The backlash from Trump comes at a delicate moment for House Republicans, who are fighting to protect — and potentially expand — an extremely narrow majority before the 2026 midterms.
A Cuellar party switch would have been a political gift.
The GOP-controlled Texas Legislature even redrew the state’s congressional districts at Trump’s request in a mid-decade gerrymandering push that is still rippling across multiple states. But Cuellar’s district — anchored in San Antonio — remained mostly intact. The congressman still believes he’s well-positioned to win reelection without switching sides.
Politically, Trump saw Cuellar as an ideological ally on immigration, noting that the Democrat had been outspoken in his criticism of President Biden’s border policies. That criticism, Trump said, was part of what led him to intervene:
The pardon, Trump argued, was meant to stop a “weaponized” prosecution.
Bribery case tossed, but controversy lingers
Cuellar and his wife had been accused of accepting payments to advance the interests of an Azerbaijan-controlled energy firm and a Mexican bank. Federal prosecutors alleged that Cuellar agreed to influence legislation and even deliver a pro-Azerbaijan speech on the House floor.
Cuellar has maintained the charges were baseless.
In the Fox interview, he went further:
He claimed the FBI tried to lure him into “a sting operation to try to bribe me, and that failed.”
The congressman’s trial had been scheduled for April — until Trump’s pardon abruptly ended the case.
A pardon with strings attached?
While presidents have long used pardons to reward loyalty or send political signals, Trump’s reaction underscores a uniquely personal expectation: clemency as a bargaining chip.
Cuellar didn’t play along.
And now, Trump — who is trying to avoid a repeat of his first term, when Democrats rode a midterm wave to reclaim the House and investigate him — is openly venting that one of his most controversial acts of 2025 hasn’t delivered the political payoff he wanted.
For now, Cuellar remains right where he’s always been: a conservative Democrat from South Texas who votes his district, frustrates progressives, and refuses to let Trump define his future.
