On Friday, the Department of Justice announced that Representative Henry Cuellar of Texas, along with his wife, were being indicted on bribery charges.

While this isn’t on the scale of Senator Bob Menendez and his wife hoarding gold bars, the charges are pretty detailed and apparently span several years.

Wow.

The DoJ has charged Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-TX) and his wife for accepting up to 600K in bribes from foreign entities between 2014 to 2021.https://t.co/porjCIru7M

— AG (@AGHamilton29) May 3, 2024

Prosecutors say that Henry and Imelda Cuellar crafted two yearslong schemes to get bribes from foreign entities – an oil and gas company “wholly owned and controlled by the Government of Azerbaijan, and a bank headquartered in Mexico City.”

In exchange for bribe payments from the Azerbaijan oil company, Cuellar “agreed to perform official acts in his capacity as a Member of Congress, to commit acts in violation of his official duties, and to act as an agent of the Government of Azerbaijan” and the bank, the indictment says.

Among those promises, prosecutors allege Cuellar agreed to influence US policy through a “series of legislative measures relating to Azerbaijan’s conflict with neighboring Armenia,” by giving a pro-Azerbaijani speech on the House floor, inserting language “favored by Azerbaijan” into legislation and committee reports, and advocating for “series of legislative measures relating to Azerbaijan’s conflict with neighboring Armenia.”

The Texas Democrat also allegedly promised to influence financial regulations in a way that would benefit the Mexican bank and its affiliates, including by working to pressure the Executive Branch on anti-money laundering enforcement practices that “threatened” their business interest and supporting revisions to the criminal money-laundering statutes.

The couple received the bribe payments through shell companies owned by Imelda Cuellar, prosecutors say. They allegedly used the proceeds from the bribery schemes to pay taxes, pay down debt and spend tens of thousands of dollars at restaurants and retail stores. One purchase was for a $12,000 custom gown, according to the indictment.

Now, as readers will remember, Henry Cuellar had his offices raided by the FBI back in January 2022, after he made a name for himself directly challenging the Biden administration regarding border security. Cuellar is also that rarest of political specimens, a pro-life Democrat. Is it beyond imagination that the Department of Justice and the FBI could have had it out for him? We certainly have seen a lot of lawfare over the last several years. Cuellar was told in 2022 that he was not the target of the investigation, but obviously, something changed along the way. If there is a money trail, and it can be shown that foreign payments were laundered through shell companies for the personal benefit of Cuellar and his wife, then obviously, they are in deep legal trouble. The kind of trouble reserved for people who don’t have the last name Biden.

Serious amateur hour over here.

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) May 3, 2024

Snark about double standards aside, Cuellar is getting far kinder treatment than, say, George Santos did. There is no talk about expulsion over this indictment. Democrats are more than happy to allow for the presumption of innocence for their side of the aisle, and all they want Cuellar to do is step aside as ranking member on his committee.

Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-Ill.) is set to become top Democrat on the House subcommittee that crafts Homeland Security Department (DHS) funding, replacing Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Texas) shortly after he was indicted on bribery charges.

The news comes shortly after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’s (D-N.Y.) office confirmed Cuellar would be stepping down from the role following reports that the Texas Democrat and his wife had been indicted. Cuellar has been alleged to have accepted nearly $600,000 in bribes and laundered the funds.

Jeffries’ office said that Cuellar would take leave pursuant to House rules.

“Henry Cuellar has admirably devoted his career to public service and is a valued Member of the House Democratic Caucus,” the office said. “Like any American, Congressman Cuellar is entitled to his day in court and the presumption of innocence throughout the legal process.”

“Pursuant to House Democratic Caucus Rule 24, Congressman Cuellar will take leave as Ranking Member of the Homeland Security Appropriations Subcommittee while this matter is ongoing.”

House Democratic Caucus Rule 24 simply lists who is next up if a chair of a committee is indicted. Rule 25 says that if that person is convicted, they don’t get to serve as chair any more. Nothing about being asked to resign or being expelled or anything.

Cuellar, for his part, is saying that he is innocent, and that yes, he is still running for re-election.

The congressman professed his innocence after the indictment was revealed and vowed to continue his bid for an 11th term in November, saying, “Everything I have done in Congress has been to serve the people of South Texas.”

There is one interesting tidbit of information that came from Cuellar himself during his statement to the press after leaving the federal courthouse.

Cuellar also said he “proactively sought legal advice from the House Ethics Committee, who gave me more than one written opinion, along with an additional opinion from a national law firm.”

A spokesperson for the House Ethics Committee declined to comment on Friday.

Now, if Cuellar has a paper trail from the House Ethics Committee, and the DOJ decided to indict him anyway, this will make for a very contentious legal battle. According to local news, Cuellar has been part of the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus, and traveled there in 2013 – which is where the legal issues may have begun.

He traveled to Turkey and Azerbaijan on a $25,000 trip with his wife Imelda in 2013, paid for by the Turquoise Council of Americans and Eurasians. Shortly after, a Cuellar staffer went on another trip to Azerbaijan with several members, including Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee, D-Houston, that was also facilitated by the group.

After his 2013 trip, agents working on behalf of the Azerbaijani government recruited Cuellar to work with them on U.S. policy helping their country, according to the indictment.

The group that hosted Cuellar’s trip is based in Texas and was led by Kemal Oksuz, who pleaded guilty in 2018 to partaking in the coverup of the Azerbaijani’s government’s role financing the 2013 congressional trip that included Jackson Lee. Oksuz admitted to lying in disclosures to the House Ethics Committee on the source of funding for the trip, which came from the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic.

After Oksuz’s guilty plea, payments from SOCAR to the Cuellar’s paused, according to the indictment.

Oksuz also worked with Cuellar to establish a program for Texas A&M International University students to study energy issues in Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. ExxonMobil and the Azerbaijani government were also involved in the creation of the program.

Cuellar has already won his primary race for his Congressional seat, but there is a runoff election for who will be his Republican opponent. With this indictment, and him staying in the race, will a Republican be able to win the general election? I guess we will see. The charges are certainly sensational, but the burden of proof is on the DOJ. Meanwhile, Republicans in Congress should be drawing up a vote to expel Henry Cuellar, as dumb and pointless as it might be, just to prove the point about George Santos, and make Democrats squirm a little.

Featured image: Official Congressional portrait of Representative Henry Cuellar, cropped, public domain