Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) described himself as “probably the most bipartisan individual” in response to President Donald Trump’s questioning his “loyalty” for remaining a Democrat after the president pardoned him.

Cuellar drew Trump’s ire on Sunday when he announced he would seek reelection as a Democrat, days after he and his wife received a presidential pardon following bribery and other charges. Trump posted a lengthy Truth Social statement condemning Cuellar’s decision to remain with the “Radical Left Scum” and warned there would be “no more Mr. Nice guy!”

“Look, I’m a Democrat. I’m probably one of the most, if not the most, bipartisan Democrat, and as I told some of my Republican friends on the House floor, I vote better than some of the Republicans in the Republican caucus, and they agree with me,” Cuellar said when asked if he would swap parties on Fox News’s Sunday Morning Futures with Maria Bartiromo.

“I just feel that, you know, I follow the words of President LBJ where he said many years ago, ‘I’m an American, I’m a Texan, and I’m a Democrat in that order.’ And I think anybody that puts party before their country is doing a disservice to their country,” Cuellar said.

Cuellar then responded to Trump’s statement by saying he “prayed for the president” and the Trump family this morning, and says he doesn’t “vote party.” He again identified himself as a “conservative Democrat” and expressed openness to working with the Trump administration.

“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 said.

DEMOCRATS HEAD INTO 2026 WITH WIND IN THEIR SALES AS REPUBLICANS CAN’T GET OUT OUT OF THEIR OWN WAY

Cuellar and his wife were indicted last year for bribery, money laundering, working on behalf of a foreign government, and conspiracy. The Department of Justice alleged that the couple accepted $600,000 from a Mexican bank and an oil company owned by the Azerbaijan government. 

The lawmaker said Friday that former President Joe Biden’s Justice Department weaponized the agency against him after he was critical of the administration’s open border immigration policies. He is the first Democrat that Trump has pardoned in his second term.

, 2025-12-07 19:40:00, , Washington Examiner, %%https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/11/cropped-favicon.png?w=32, https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/feed/, Asher Notheis