Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Texas, who was recently pardoned for federal bribery charges, is calling on House Republicans to investigate the prosecutors who brought the case against him.
"I really think what they did was wrong," Cuellar said in an interview.
Cuellar said he has spoken to Republicans in the House who are investigating the conduct of federal prosecutors under former President Joe Biden.
House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, has been probing the weaponization of the Justice Department.
The Texas congressman, who along with his wife was pardoned by President Donald Trump, said he will share information with Republicans about his case.
He met with Jordan shortly after the pardon, according to sources, and encouraged him to request records from the Justice Department regarding his prosecution.
Jordan expressed openness to the idea, the sources said.
"Based on what's there, I definitely feel that there was misconduct by the prosecutors," Cuellar said.
"So we'll get more in details later on, but I certainly am convinced that this was weaponization."
Federal authorities had charged Cuellar, 69, and his wife with accepting thousands of dollars in exchange for the congressman advancing the interests of an Azerbaijan-controlled energy company and a bank in Mexico.
Cuellar was accused of agreeing to influence legislation favorable to Azerbaijan and deliver a pro-Azerbaijan speech on the floor of the U.S. House.
Trump, a Republican, said in a post on Truth Social that Cuellar "bravely spoke out against Open Borders" and accused Biden, a Democrat, of going after the congressman and his wife "simply for speaking the TRUTH."
Cuellar has said he and his wife are innocent.
"Henry, I don't know you, but you can sleep well tonight," Trump wrote in his social media post announcing the pardon. "Your nightmare is finally over!"
The couple's trial had been set to begin in April.
Cuellar said he will run for reelection as a Democrat.
"I was a Democrat, and I'm still a Democrat," he said.
Cuellar said neither he nor his family members had hired anyone to speak to the White House on his behalf.
His daughters had written a letter to Trump requesting a pardon or clemency, blasting their parents' prosecution as politically motivated.
"My daughters ... saw their mom and dad go through a very difficult time and, on their own, they wrote a letter to the president," he said.
"Apparently, the president read it and made a decision."
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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