Cuellar Chief of Staff Resigns Amid Federal Indictment

Rep. Henry Cuellar (D-TX) has found himself in the crosshairs of the DOJ.

Cuellar has been very vocal about Biden’s mishandling of the situation at the border, which is why some believe he is being targeted.

It is not a good sign, however, that Cuellar’s chief of staff has decided to bail rather than stick by Cueller amid these charges.

Not a Good Sign

We have seen politicians get indicted before, and we have seen them beat the charges.

There is one relative constant in all of this in that cases where they successfully defend against charges, staffers stay on board.

That is not the case for Cuellar, and that is not a good sign for his campaign and future in politics, let alone the possibility of being sent to jail.

Cuellar’s home was raided by the FBI several years ago, but at the time, the authorities stated that he was not the subject of the investigation.

While nothing appeared to be coming from the raid, that investigation ticked up a notch in recent weeks, with Cuellar and his wife now having been indicted on significant bribery charges accounting for roughly $600,000.

The DOJ stated, “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.”

That appeared to be enough for Chief of Staff Jacob Hochberg to call it a day, getting out now before his name gets sullied.

Punch Bowl broke the story with very little detail, then CNN reporter Haley Talbot posted on X, “Hochberg called staff about an hour ago to let them know.”

This is devastating for Cuellar, but we have to wait to see how this impacts the 2024 cycle and whether Cuellar will remain in his seat, resign, or allow the GOP to take advantage of the news and flip the seat blue.