Cuellar claims he was indicted by Biden's DOJ because of his opposition to open border policies

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Cuellar claims he was indicted by Biden's DOJ because of his opposition to open border policies

Texas Democrat was charged with accepting $600K bribe from Azerbaijan government before Trump pardon

Marc Tamasco Fox News

Published

December 7, 2025 5:00pm EST

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Rep. Cuellar claims Biden DOJ tried to ‘entrap’ and ‘bribe’ him before Trump pardon

Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, joins 'Sunday Morning Futures' to discuss President Donald Trump's pardon, the weaponization of former President Joe Biden's Justice Department and his future as a Democrat.

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After being pardoned by President Donald Trump on Wednesday, Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, alleged that he was indicted by the Biden administration's Department of Justice (DOJ) because of his staunch opposition to the administration's open border policies.

During an interview with Fox News' Maria Bartiromo on "Sunday Morning Futures," Cuellar was asked whether he believed he was indicted because of his criticisms of former President Joe Biden's "open border."

"Absolutely," he responded. "The president was right. And I now — looking at all of the evidence and looking at everything — I definitely feel that I was weaponized."

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President Donald Trump announced his pardon of Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas on Truth Social Wednesday. (Nathan Howard/Politico/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)

In May 2024, the DOJ charged Cuellar with bribery and acting as a foreign agent for having allegedly accepted $600,000 from the Azerbaijan government in return for the congressman’s assistance in Washington. The congressman's wife, Imelda Cuellar, was also indicted in connection with the investigation.

Cuellar argued that the DOJ was weaponized to not only go after him, but also his family.

"I'll tell you something… if they want to come after me, because I was a critic about open borders, that's one thing. But you don't bring the family in. You just don't do that," he railed. "You don't — as a prosecutor — you just don't do that type of situation."

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Pressing Cuellar on how he ended up in this situation, Bartiromo asked the congressman, "what went on between you and the Azerbaijani government?"

"Look, let me say this. You know, first of all, we're innocent," he asserted. "And we have looked at all the evidence that got provided through discovery. We were even allowed to see the grand jury testimony. That doesn't happen very frequently. And we saw that. And not a single person that testified — and I'll emphasize this — there's not a single person [who] said there was a quid pro quo."

Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, is seen in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, June 4, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

The congressman claimed he was also targeted by a sting operation that attempted to coerce him into accepting bribes, but he never gave in.

"What they did there was wrong… So again, no quid pro quo from any of the evidence, from any of the individuals," he contended. "And, therefore, they even did attempt a sting operation where they were trying to entrap me. And that failed."

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When asked who attempted to bribe and entrap him, Cuellar claimed that the Biden administration and the DOJ were responsible for trying to set him up.

A U.S. Justice Department logo is seen behind the podium in the Department's headquarters briefing room before a news conference with the Attorney General in Washington, January 24, 2023. (REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo)

"So they — the Biden administration — they tried to entrap me and tried to bribe me, and that failed. And this is very significant because one more thing, everything came in from the DOJ in D.C.," he alleged.

The congressman told Bartiromo that he had spoken with House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan and requested a meeting to discuss a potential investigation into the prosecutors who brought the indictment against him and his wife.

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Fox News' Leo Briceno contributed to this report.

Cuellar claims he was indicted by Biden's DOJ because of his opposition to open border policies