In a bold move that has left both Republicans and Democrats equally confused, former President Donald Trump issued a full pardon Thursday to Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar, a Democrat, claiming President Biden had orchestrated a ‘deep state witch hunt’ after Cuellar dared to criticize White House border policy.

“Look, I know Democrats, some of them I like, Henry especially,” Trump said during a hastily assembled press conference in the parking lot of his Mar-a-Lago golf course. “He’s a wonderful guy, he said the border stinks, which I’ve said for years. Biden hates that, very unfair! Total persecution. I had no choice but to save him.”

Legal scholars immediately questioned the validity of the pardon, given that Trump is not currently president, but Trump insisted that he retains ‘standing presidential aura’ and that his signature is “basically stronger than an executive order.” A spokesperson for Cuellar said the congressman was “still a bit unclear how any of this works, but grateful for whatever just happened.”

“I always thought presidential pardons had some kind of judicial process, but who am I to refuse an act of political goodwill?” Cuellar told reporters. “I mean, if Kanye can get one, why not me?”

Sources close to Trump say he is considering preemptively pardoning Bernie Sanders, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and an entire Chick-fil-A franchise in Des Moines, all of whom he claims are on Biden’s “secret enemies list.”

Constitutional law professor Dr. Linda Baxter commented, “This is only slightly less confusing than last week’s attempt to pardon the entire state of Florida for ‘bad voting.’ We’re still updating the textbooks.”