Democrat Henry Cuellar has shared his message to Trump after the president targeted a lengthy rant at him on Truth Social Sunday morning.
Trump pardoned Cuellar and his wife Imelda this week after they were indicted on a dozen charges including bribery, conspiracy, and money laundering, and the president seemingly expected the congressman to turn his cloak and run for the GOP in thanks.
Speaking on Sunday Morning Futures, Cuellar responded to the vitriol very placidly. “Let me just say this. I was at church this morning with my wife,” he told host Maria Bartiromo.
The 70-year-old continued: “I prayed for the president, I prayed for his family, and I prayed for the presidency, because if the president succeeds, the country succeeds.”
Suggesting that his decision to run for Congress as a Democrat again doesn’t matter—or, perhaps, that he can still be an ally to Trump, Cuellar added: “And again, as probably the most bipartisan individual, I don’t vote party. I vote for what’s right for the country.”
The Texan representative doubled down on his amenable stance later on, stating, “So again, I am a conservative Democrat, but I will work with the president.
“I’ve reached out to his administration. I told them, you know, name the folks—Tom Homan, Kristi [Noem]—‘Hey, can we sit down, I’d love to sit down and see where we can find common ground’."
The congressman concluded: “I sit on defense appropriations, I sit on homeland appropriations, and if I can work and find common ground, then I certainly want to do that.”
Cuellar’s measured response came as a direct contrast to Trump’s social media bashing, in which he raged at the attorney for “continuing to work with the same Radical Left Scum that just weeks before wanted him and his wife to spend the rest of their lives in Prison - And probably still do!”
Saying that the Cuellars’ daughters approached him for clemency for their parents, Trump, 79, menacingly concluded: “Such a lack of LOYALTY, something that Texas Voters, and Henry’s daughters, will not like. Oh’ well, next time, no more Mr. Nice guy!”
Prior to Trump’s pardon, the Cuellars were accused of accepting $600,000 in bribes from the Azerbaijan government-run oil and gas company and a Mexican bank last year, and were set to go to trial in April 2026.
The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House for comment.
