


Representative Henry Cuellar (D., Texas) is set to be indicted Friday pending an official announcement by the U.S. Department of Justice, according to multiple reports.
The details of the expected indictment are not yet clear, but Cuellar’s home and office were searched in 2022 during a federal investigation into Azerbaijan and American businessmen linked to the Middle Eastern nation. Cuellar formerly co-chaired the congressional Azerbaijan caucus.
Cuellar issued a statement denying wrongdoing after NBC News first reported on the Justice Department’s imminent announcement.
“I want to be clear that both my wife and I are innocent of these allegations,” Cuellar said. “The actions I took in Congress were consistent with the actions of many of my colleagues and in the interest of the American people.”
“Furthermore, we requested a meeting with the Washington DC prosecutors to explain the facts and they refused to discuss the case with us or hear our side.”
Cuellar confirmed he still intends to run for reelection in Texas’s competitive 28th district.
He was victorious in 2022 with 56 percent of the vote over his Republican challenger in the heavily Latino district after narrowly winning the Democratic primary against progressive challenger Jessica Cisneros. Two years prior, Cuellar also won a close primary against Cisneros, a former Cuellar intern and immigration attorney backed by progressive campaign arm Justice Democrats.
A longtime moderate Democrat, Cuellar has long been the source of frustration among progressives for occasionally bucking the party as a member of the centrist Blue Dog coalition. He is Catholic and opposes Democratic efforts to legalize abortions in the third trimester.
Over the course of President Joe Biden’s term, Cuellar has voted with the administration more than 95 percent of the time.