By Alejandra Jaramillo, CNN

(CNN) — President Donald Trump announced Wednesday he is issuing a “full and unconditional” pardon to Texas Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife, Imelda, using a lengthy social media post to accuse the Biden administration of targeting political opponents, even within its own party.

“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,’” Trump wrote on Truth Social.

“Henry, I don’t know you, but you can sleep well tonight — Your nightmare is finally over!” Trump continued, referring to bribery charges brought against the congressman in 2024.

Responding to the pardon on X, Cuellar thanked Trump “for his tremendous leadership and for taking the time to look at the facts.”

“This pardon gives us a clean slate. The noise is gone. The work remains. And I intend to meet it head on,” he wrote.

The 11-term congressman, who filed for reelection Wednesday as a Democrat, has been likely to face a competitive reelection in a Trump-won district that Republicans are targeting — making the president’s pardon a puzzling move as his party tries to defend its majority in 2026.

Asked Wednesday if he’ll change parties, Cuellar told reporters on Capitol Hill, “No, like I said, nothing has changed.”

And Cuellar said he did not cut a deal with the White House to earn the pardon. “No, no,” he told CNN’s Manu Raju when pressed on the topic later Wednesday. The congressman said he “didn’t know that this was coming,” adding he would go to a White House Christmas party next week and would thank the president personally.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries also dismissed questions about whether the congressman would leave the party. “Henry Cuellar is a highly valued member of the House Democratic Caucus. And I expect him to remain a highly valued member of the House Democratic Caucus,” Jeffries told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer and Pamela Brown earlier Wednesday.

In 2024, Cuellar and his wife were charged with accepting nearly $600,000 in bribes from two foreign entities in an alleged scheme that took place from late 2014 through at least November 2021, according to the indictment. Cuellar has denied any wrongdoing by him and his wife.

Jeffries — who previously refrained from commenting on specifics of the case — on Wednesday called the indictment against Cuellar “very thin to begin with” and suggested the charges “were eventually going to be dismissed.”

Trump’s Truth Social post announcing the pardon included images of a letter from the Cuellars’ daughters last month asking the president for “compassion and clemency” for their parents.

Republicans had been eying Cuellar’s Texas seat as they look to pick up seats next year. He’s targeted by the new map Texas Republicans drew this year, which is currently in limbo awaiting a ruling from the US Supreme Court.

But the congressman has been remarkably resilient, surviving primary challenges from the left and continuing to win in South Texas even as Republicans have made gains with Latino voters and the area has become less friendly to Democrats overall. In 2024, Cuellar won by 5.6 points, even as Trump won the district by 7.

The new version of Cuellar’s district would’ve voted for Trump by more than 10 points. However, the new map also shifts some areas back into Cuellar’s district that he had represented before the state’s 2021 redistricting.

Cuellar, who was first elected in 2004, is among the most conservative Democrats in the House. He’s long opposed abortion rights and has advocated for tougher border security measures.

Cuellar vowed Wednesday that he’d beat “the far left” in a primary. “If they want to spend another $20 million, we’ll win it. But this is a conservative district, and I’m gonna win it,” he told Raju.

The president had previously criticized Cuellar’s indictment, baselessly accusing Joe Biden of having the congressman indicted because he wouldn’t play the then-Democratic president’s “open border game.”

In their November 12 letter to Trump, the Cuellars’ daughters appealed to the president by referencing the congressman’s breaks from his party and alluding to Trump’s own past legal woes.

“He has never been afraid to speak his mind, especially when it comes to protecting the people of South Texas and securing the border from the policies of the previous administration,” Christina and Catherine Cuellar wrote about their father.

“When you and your family faced your own challenges, we understood that pain in a very human way. We watched from afar through the eyes of daughters and knew what it felt like to see parents under fire,” they added.

CNN’s Ethan Cohen, Ellis Kim, Sarah Ferris and Veronica Stracqualursi contributed to this story.

This story has been updated with additional information.

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