Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-Azerbaijan) and his wife were indicted on corruption charges Friday. They accepted nearly $600,000 over 10 years in bribes from an oil company owned by a foreign government and other international entities, the Justice Department claims.
According to the indictment, Cuellar influenced a series of legislative measures regarding Azerbaijan's conflict with neighboring Armenia, inserted language favored by Azerbaijan into legislation and committee reports governing certain security and economic aid programs and consulted with representatives of Azerbaijan regarding their efforts to lobby to the U.S. government. Cuellar once served as a co-chair of the Congressional Azerbaijan Caucus, and repeatedly met with Azerbaijan officials, including the ambassador of Azerbaijan, Elin Suleymanov in that role.
Then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had this crook's back to the point of supporting him against primary challengers even after the FBI raided him and it was obvious he was going to get collared.
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi affirmed her support Wednesday for U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar, D-Laredo, who was forced into a primary runoff earlier this month after the FBI raided his home. "I support my incumbents," Pelosi said during an unrelated news conference in Austin. "I support every one of them, from right to left. That is what I do." Cuellar, a centrist Democrat, is in the runoff against Jessica Cisneros, the progressive challenger who ran against him in 2020 and lost by a small margin. In the lead-up to that primary, Pelosi visited Laredo and campaigned for Cuellar
Not sure I appreciate this ongoing experiment in stripping the proposition "at least vote against Trump" to its bare bones. By November voting Democrat in ever second district will be like those party games where you must answer horrid questions such as "Would you rather be sodomized by a dolphin or eaten by a shark?"
There is a silver lining: Cuellar was the last anti-abortion House Democrat. You could buy anything from him for $60k a year but you couldn't buy that.
