Congressman Henry Cuellar (D-TX) caught a bit of a break on Friday when the judge overseeing his case on corruption charges agreed to continue the trial from July 8, 2024, to March 31, 2025. That means the trial won't come until well after the November election, in which Cuellar is facing off against Republican Jay Furman, a Navy veteran.
The Laredo Democrat was indicted last month on charges of bribery, money laundering and illegally working on behalf of the Azerbaijani government. His trial was scheduled to kick off in July, but now will not begin until spring 2025 with an interim pretrial conference in December. Jury selection is scheduled to begin March 31, 2025.
Both federal prosecutors and Cuellar’s team asked to delay the trial. Judge Lee Rosenthal, a seasoned judge appointed by President George H.W. Bush, approved their request. The trial will take place in federal court in Houston.
Federal prosecutors allege Cuellar laundered bribes from the Azerbaijani government and a Mexican bank. In exchange, he allegedly advocated legislation the bank and Azerbaijani government supported. That included legislation related to Azerbaijan’s territorial dispute with neighboring Armenia.
It isn't exactly clear from the pleadings what the basis for continuing the case was. The government's motion requesting a new scheduling order references the defendants (Cuellar and his wife, Imelda, are both charged) requesting a continuance of the July trial date during the May 16 Pretrial Conference but does not specify the reasons for the request. One can speculate, but given that the indictment was only filed April 30, a continuance of the trial date to next March isn't extraordinary. (Believe I've shared this before, but I can count on one hand the number of cases I recall actually proceeding to trial on their original/initial trial date in nearly three decades as a litigator — and still have a couple of fingers left over.)
Still, the delay of the trial means Cuellar won't have to contend with spending time in court or having been convicted ahead of November's election. And one shouldn't necessarily count on the indictment to damage the odds of Cuellar prevailing. In November 2022, he won the seat handily, securing his 10th term in office with a 13-point victory over Republican challenger Cassy Garcia, despite the fact that his home and office were raided by the FBI in January of that year.
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NEW: Democrat Rep. Henry Cuellar to Be Indicted by the DOJ, Putting His House Seat in Jeopardy
The charges against Cuellar read somewhat similar to those against Sen. Bob Menendez (D-NJ), who's currently standing trial for corruption and bribery and has filed to run as an Independent in a bid to retain his long-held Senate seat in the November election.
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Per the DOJ:
An indictment was unsealed today in the Southern District of Texas charging U.S. Congressman Enrique Roberto “Henry” Cuellar, 68, and his wife, Imelda Cuellar, 67, both of Laredo, Texas, with participating in two schemes involving bribery, unlawful foreign influence, and money laundering. Congressman Cuellar and Imelda Cuellar made their initial court appearance today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Dena Palermo in Houston.
According to court documents, beginning in at least December 2014 and continuing through at least November 2021, Congressman Cuellar and Imelda Cuellar allegedly accepted approximately $600,000 in bribes from two foreign entities: an oil and gas company wholly owned and controlled by the Government of Azerbaijan, and a bank headquartered in Mexico City. The bribe payments were allegedly laundered, pursuant to sham consulting contracts, through a series of front companies and middlemen into shell companies owned by Imelda Cuellar, who performed little to no legitimate work under the contracts. In exchange for the bribes paid by the Azerbaijani oil and gas company, Congressman Cuellar allegedly agreed to use his office to influence U.S. foreign policy in favor of Azerbaijan. In exchange for the bribes paid by the Mexican bank, Congressman Cuellar allegedly agreed to influence legislative activity and to advise and pressure high-ranking U.S. Executive Branch officials regarding measures beneficial to the bank.
If convicted of the charges, Cuellar could face decades in prison.