The “game recognize game” pardon cycle crosses party lines again
By 
Henry Cuellar is the new Rod Blagojevich:
President Donald Trump announced he will pardon U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, and his wife, ending the congressman’s multi-year federal legal battle. Cuellar had faced a dozen charges of bribery, money laundering and conspiracy.
In Trump’s pardon, shared Wednesday morning via Truth Social, the president said that the Democratic congressman had been punished by a weaponized Department of Justice under former president Joe Biden for speaking out against the administration’s border policy.
“Sleepy Joe went after the Congressman, and even the Congressman’s wonderful wife, Imelda, simply for speaking the TRUTH,” Trump wrote.
Cuellar also on Wednesday filed for reelection as a Democrat, quieting speculation that he planned to switch parties.
Cuellar’s legal controversy began in 2022, during the Biden administration, when the FBI raided his home and office as part of a federal probe investigating the diplomatic practices of Azerbaijan. Cuellar and his wife were indicted by the Department of Justice in 2024 on 12 counts of bribery, conspiracy and money laundering centering the congressman’s alleged acceptance of nearly $600,000 in bribes from the Central Asian county and a Mexican commercial bank. The indictment alleged that the money was laundered through shell companies owned by Imelda Cuellar, and that the congressman subsequently pushed policy benefitting Azerbaijani interests.
Cuellar’s trial was set to begin in September, but a federal judge had moved the date to April — after the March primary but before what is set to be a competitive general election. Throughout his legal ordeal, he has maintained that he is innocent.
The federal pardon power was poorly designed and has become even worse in context, but it’s not realistic for any constitutional text to anticipate every problem or make every tradeoff correctly. Constitutional government requires public officials with a basic commitment to democratic values, and that’s what we don’t have in the leadership of any of the three branches right now.