In a rare moment of agreement between Democratic leadership and President Donald Trump, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) publicly backed Trump’s full pardon of Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) on Wednesday — even praising Cuellar as “beloved” and suggesting the corruption case against him never had merit.
Appearing on CNN’s The Situation Room with Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown shortly after Trump posted the announcement on Truth Social, Jeffries defended both the congressman and the pardon.
Trump had blasted President Biden and Democrats earlier in the day, writing: “One of the clearest examples of this was when Crooked Joe 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.’”
Cuellar and his wife were indicted in March 2024 on allegations that they accepted hundreds of thousands of dollars in foreign bribes. Cuellar denied the charges, insisting he was the victim of politically motivated prosecutors.
Jeffries echoed that sentiment on CNN.
“Congressman Cuellar is a beloved member of the House of Representatives, loved in his community, particularly in Laredo,” Jeffries said. “I’ve had the opportunity to spend time with him down in South Texas. The reality is this indictment was very thin to begin with, in my view. The charges were eventually going to be dismissed, if not at the trial court level then by the Supreme Court, as they’ve repeatedly done in instances just like this.”
While Jeffries said he didn’t know what specifically motivated Trump’s pardon — CNN’s Brown noted Cuellar’s district voted for Trump — he endorsed the end result anyway.
“I don’t know why the president decided to do this. I think the outcome was exactly the right outcome,” Jeffries said.
Brown then asked whether Cuellar might switch parties, given his conservative leanings on border security and his public praise from Trump. Jeffries brushed aside the speculation.
“I think Congressman Cuellar is a highly, highly valued member of the House Democratic Caucus, and I expect that he’ll continue to remain a highly valued member,” Jeffries said.
Cuellar has long been one of the most centrist Democrats in Congress, occasionally breaking with his party on border enforcement and immigration — stances that often align more closely with Trump’s policies than Biden’s.
Trump’s decision to pardon Cuellar, and Jeffries’ enthusiastic support for that decision, highlights just how politically weak the indictment appears in hindsight. It also underscores growing fractures between Biden’s Department of Justice and both parties in Congress, as more lawmakers accuse the DOJ of political targeting.
For now, Cuellar walks free, Trump scores a bipartisan win, and Jeffries finds himself — unusually — on the same side as the president.
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