Shamita Basu

He was also accused of laundering the money through sham consulting contracts.

Earlier this week, we talked about Juan Orlando Hernandez, the convicted ex-president of Honduras who was pardoned by Trump.

He was serving a 45-year sentence in the U.S.

for drug trafficking.

Similar to Hernandez, Cuellar's family sent a letter of appeal to Trump, lavishing him with praise and pleading for his mercy and compassion, a message that Trump attached to his social media post.

And also, like Hernandez, Trump pointed the finger at overzealous DOJ officials from the Biden era.

Trump said Cuellar was prosecuted for his willingness to go against other Democrats on immigration policy.

In his post, Trump said he didn't know Cuellar, but he said he could, quote, sleep well tonight and that his nightmare is finally over.

There has long been speculation over whether Cuellar, one of the Democratic Party's most conservative members, might finally flip to the GOP.

But after the pardon, Cuellar wasted no time making his intentions clear and filed for reelection as a Democrat.

Yesterday, Democratic House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries indicated to CNN that this was one Trump pardon he could get behind.

The pardon now complicates Republicans' plans for next year's midterms.

The GOP slated Cuellar's seat as a key target and recruited a top Republican candidate to run for that seat.

Trump won the district in 2024.

The AP's White House reporter and CNN analyst Sung Min Kim told the network this would now make it a pretty awkward midterm campaign.

Liz Oyer was a pardons attorney under the Biden administration and has become a Trump critic since being fired earlier this year.

On her social channels, she described this as part of a pattern.

Trump has now granted more than 1,600 pardons and commutations so far this term.

Before we let you go, a few other stories we're following.

The doctor who illegally supplied ketamine to Friends star Matthew Perry was sentenced to two and a half years in prison on Wednesday.