{"id":45428,"date":"2025-12-04T12:56:28","date_gmt":"2025-12-04T20:56:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/occupysf.net\/?p=45428"},"modified":"2025-12-04T12:56:29","modified_gmt":"2025-12-04T20:56:29","slug":"this-is-disgusting-trump-pardons-henry-cuellar-after-bribery-money-laundering-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/2025\/12\/04\/this-is-disgusting-trump-pardons-henry-cuellar-after-bribery-money-laundering-charges\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018This Is Disgusting\u2019: Trump Pardons Henry Cuellar After Bribery, Money Laundering Charges"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\u2018This<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) questions Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during a hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on May 6, 2025 in Washington, DC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00a0(Photo by Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHenry Cuellar, the last anti-choice Democrat in the House, sold out his own community for bribes from a foreign government and oil corporation,\u201d said Sunrise Movement in condemning the Trump pardon.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dec 03, 2025 (CommonDreams.org)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Donald Trump<\/a> on Wednesday announced that he was pardoning Democratic US Rep. Henry Cuellar, who was indicted by the Department of Justice<\/a> in 2024 on charges of bribery, conspiracy, and money laundering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In justifying the pardon, Trump baselessly claimed that the Texas<\/a> lawmaker was the victim of vindictive prosecution by former President Joe Biden<\/a> in supposed retaliation for Cuellar\u2019s criticisms of Biden\u2019s immigration<\/a> policies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RECOMMENDED…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"US<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Somebody\u2019s Getting Rich\u2019: Senator Suggests Trump Pardon Spree Is Yet Another Grift<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"President<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Shamelessly Corrupt\u2019: Trump Frees Private Equity Executive Convicted of Defrauding 10,000+ Investors<\/a><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHenry, I don\u2019t know you, but you can sleep well tonight,\u201d Trump wrote<\/a> at the end of his pardon announcement. \u201cYour nightmare is finally over!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to federal prosecutors, Cuellar and his wife, Imelda Cuellar, engaged in a corrupt scheme that involved taking $600,000 worth of bribes from a fossil fuel company owned by the government of Azerbaijan<\/a> in exchange for desired policy outcomes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe bribe payments were laundered, pursuant to sham consulting contracts, through a series of front companies and middlemen into shell<\/a> companies owned by Imelda Cuellar,\u201d prosecutors alleged in their indictment. \u201cIn exchange for the bribe payments to Imelda Cuellar, Henry Cuellar agreed to perform official acts in his capacity as a member of Congress<\/a>, to commit acts in violation of his official duties, and to act as an agent of the government of Azerbaijan.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As noted<\/a> by congressional reporter Jamie Dupree, Cuellar is the twelfth current or former member of Congress<\/a> whom Trump has pardoned, and is the first one to receive a pardon without having been criminally convicted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cuellar is also just the second current or former Democratic member of Congress to receive a pardon from Trump, who also pardoned former Illinois Gov. and ex-US Rep. Rod Blagojevich, who was found guilty in 2011 on multiple corruption<\/a> charges related to his attempt to sell a US Senate<\/a> seat that had been vacated by Barack Obama<\/a> after his election to the presidency in 2008.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some progressives<\/a> expressed revulsion at Trump\u2019s pardon of Cuellar, one of the most conservative members of the House Democratic caucus who has nonetheless been defended by party leadership despite criminal charges leveled against him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is disgusting,\u201d wrote<\/a> Sunrise Movement\u2019s official X account. \u201cHenry Cuellar, the last anti-choice Democrat in the House, sold out his own community for bribes from a foreign government and oil<\/a> corporation. Then he cozied up to Trump for a pardon while the Democratic establishment stood by and watched.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Melanie D\u2019Arrigo, executive director of Campaign for New York Health, speculated that Trump pardoned Cuellar as a reward for stifling past progressive policy ambitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHenry Cuellar is part of the Problem Solvers Caucus\u2014a \u2018bipartisan\u2019 group where the Democrat members repeatedly undermine the Democrats\u2019 agenda to help Republicans<\/a>, while taking campaign donations from Republican billionaires<\/a>,\u201d she wrote<\/a>. \u201cThis is a \u2018thank you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Emma Vigeland, cohost of \u201cThe Majority Report\u201d talk show, wondered<\/a> if Trump had worked out an explicit quid pro quo with Cuellar ahead of the pardon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cCuellar is an anti-abortion Democrat who will likely switch parties now that Trump has gotten him out of a dozen bribery and money laundering charges,\u201d she wrote.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, the\u00a0Texas Tribune<\/em>\u00a0reports<\/a>\u00a0that Cuellar on Wednesday filed to run for reelection as a Democrat, which for now casts doubt on him switching parties as a condition of getting pardoned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brad Reed is a staff writer for Common Dreams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Bio ><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) questions Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem during a hearing in the Rayburn House Office Building on Capitol Hill on May 6, 2025 in Washington, DC. \u00a0(Photo by Chip Somodevilla\/Getty Images) \u201cHenry Cuellar, the last anti-choice Democrat in the House, sold out his own community for bribes… Continue reading → <\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45428"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45428"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45429,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45428\/revisions\/45429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/occupysf.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}