Trump blindsided Republicans by pardoning Dem — and they fear they can't flip his seat

When President Donald Trump issued a pardon for Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX), he did not give House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) or Republican leadership any heads up about what he was doing first — and now he's thrown a wrench in their plans to flip his South Texas seat.

According to Axios, Johnson said he had no notice of the decision, while National Republican Congressional Committee Chair Richard Hudson (R-NC) said that Trump's words, seemingly in support of Cuellar, "certainly makes it tougher" to run a candidate against him effectively.

Cuellar, a conservative-leaning Democrat who has spent years representing the Laredo area near the Mexican border, was indicted alongside his wife last year by federal prosecutors, who alleged they accepted $600,000 in bribes from an oil and gas company linked to entities in Mexico and Armenia, in exchange for official acts. The congressman has denied any wrongdoing.

On Wednesday morning, Trump baselessly claimed on his Truth Social platform that Cuellar had only been indicted because he disagreed with former President Joe Biden on border security.

"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,'" said Trump. "Sleepy Joe went after the Congressman, and even the Congressman’s wonderful wife, Imelda, simply for speaking the TRUTH. It is unAmerican and, as I previously stated, the Radical Left Democrats are a complete and total threat to Democracy!"

This comes just after Texas Republicans, following Trump's demands, redrew their congressional map to try to delete five Democratic seats. Cuellar's district is one of the five to be redrawn, although he would have still won the GOP's new, slightly redder configuration under 2024 turnout due to his history of overperforming in elections.