BREAKING: Democrat Congressman Charged For Taking Foreign Bribes

This just in: A Texas Democrat Congressman and his wife have been charged by the DOJ for taking foreign bribes.

Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife, Imelda Cuellar, allegedly accepted almost $600,000 in bribes from two foreign entities: a state-run Azerbaijani oil and gas company and a Mexican bank.

That makes two Democrats in Congress indicted for bribery charges.

The other is New Jersey Democrat Sen. Bob Menendez, who was indicted last September for taking hundreds of thousands of dollars in foreign bribes.

Take a look at the breaking news:

BREAKING: Democrat Congressman Henry Cuellar and his wife have been charged by the DOJ for allegedly taking $600,000 in bribes from an oil & gas company owned and controlled by the government of Azerbaijan.

That's now two Democrats in Congress indicted for taking foreign bribes. pic.twitter.com/YgYHnE4IZZ

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) May 3, 2024

CNN has more details on the indictment and the Cuellars’ response to being charged:

Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas and his wife have been charged with accepting nearly $600,000 in bribes from two foreign entities, according to an indictment in federal court in Texas.

The alleged scheme took place from late 2014 through at least November 2021, the indictment says.

The congressman and his wife, Imelda Cuellar, made their initial court appearance on Friday in Houston and were released on a $100,000 bond. They are facing several charges, including conspiracy to commit bribery of a federal official, violating the ban on public officials acting as agents of a foreign principal and money laundering.

In a statement on Friday, Cuellar said: “I want to be clear that both my wife and I are innocent of these allegations. Everything I have done in Congress has been to serve the people of South Texas.”

Cuellar said in his statement that actions he took in Congress were “in the interest of the American people” and vowed to continue his bid for reelection in November. The congressman also defended his wife, saying that, “The allegation that she is anything but qualified and hard working is both wrong and offensive.”

“The actions I took in Congress were consistent with the actions of many of my colleagues and in the interest of the American people,” Cuellar said.

In exchange for the hundreds of thousands of dollars received, Rep. Cuellar allegedly swayed U.S. policy in favor of Azerbaijan.

The Texas Tribune noted:

Cuellar allegedly accepted the payments from Azerbaijan’s state-run oil and gas company after they had been laundered through fake consulting contracts to shell companies owned by Imelda Cuellar, according to the indictment. In exchange, the Laredo congressman allegedly pushed U.S. policy in favor of Azerbaijan, an oil-rich former Soviet country that borders Iran and Russia on the Caspian sea. That includes adding language to defense spending legislation to prioritize ties in the countries in the region, including with Azerbaijan, and working to kill legislation prioritized by members who supported Armenian interests.

Cuellar also allegedly took money from a retail Mexican bank and influenced members of the Executive Branch to work around an anti-money laundering policy that threatened the bank’s interests, according to the indictment. Cuellar also allegedly coordinated with a subsidiary of the bank on legislation that would have been beneficial to the payday lending industry — a form of lending usually targeting low income borrowers with few alternatives that includes extremely high interest rates.

What’s interesting about this case is not that a Democrat took foreign bribes.

That isn’t shocking in the slightest.

Especially not with Beijing Biden in the White House…

What is notable, however, is that when Republicans get charged for similar — or much lesser — crimes, they often face much more severe consequences.

Many people are pointing out the hypocrisy here on social media:

The difference between Democrats and Republicans is that the Dems will do nothing about Cuellar or Menendez whereas Republicans handed George Santos’ seat to a Democrat on a silver platter even though his charges were not even remotely as bad as taking foreign bribes.

— Greg Price (@greg_price11) May 3, 2024

I agreed with expelling Santos, now I have to ask why are they not expelling Rep. Cuellar and Sen. Menendez? Party affiliation maybe?

— Not Simo Häyhä (@h2av8tor) May 3, 2024

Democrats taking bribes isn’t the shocking part. The shocking part of it is he’s actually being indicted, but unlike Republicans he will stay on the job. Santos was accused of far fewer crimes, and his seat was taken and given to the democrats. Make that make sense.

— Jericho (@JerichoXVI) May 3, 2024