Democrats on the House Appropriations Committee voted Thursday to recommend reinstalling Rep. Henry Cuellar as the ranking member of the panel’s Homeland Security subcommittee, after President Donald Trump pardoned the congressman for alleged bribery schemes.
Trump’s “full and unconditional” pardon of the Texas Democrat and his wife, Imelda, announced last week, put Democrats in the awkward position of having to decide whether to reinstate Cuellar to his former plum Appropriations post without any trial being held on the bribery charges. Cuellar and his wife have denied the charges and maintain their innocence.
“We followed the rules of the caucus,” said Connecticut Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the committee’s top Democrat, adding it is not the job of appropriators to set those rules.
