OPINION:
The Biden administration won’t tolerate dissent from the party line regarding the border. That became clear Friday when the Department of Justice indicted one of a handful of Democrats daring to go rogue on the issue.
Just before the Justice Department’s action, Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas had joined 13 rebellious Democrats voting in favor of H. Res. 1112, a symbolic measure accusing President Biden of “purposely violating statutes that require the detention of inadmissible aliens” and denouncing “the Biden administration’s open-borders policies.”
Because the Laredo congressman has a track record of backing modest measures to strengthen border security — he never went as far as to endorse a border wall — he invited the ire of progressives who wanted him gone.
The Justice Democrats, the far-left PAC that helped elevate Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, mounted a primary challenge against Mr. Cuellar. The Intercept published a series of articles accusing him of being strong-ish on the border because he was receiving donations from border-security technology companies.
The Justice Department now says Mr. Cuellar and his wife, Imelda, pocketed $360,000 in bribes from SOCAR, the State Oil Company of the Republic of Azerbaijan. Mr. Cuellar opened his relationship with that former Soviet republic when he visited in 2013.
The authoritarian regime in Baku was eager to line up Washington’s support for a lucrative natural gas pipeline, and Mr. Cuellar did add his name to be one of 59 co-sponsors of a bipartisan resolution endorsing its construction.
Federal prosecutors say the foreigners made “consulting fee” payments to a shell company set up by Mrs. Cuellar. Despite being a highly paid consultant to a foreign gas company, Mrs. Cuellar had no experience in this line of business.
Note that the Justice Department is not interested in drawing comparisons to payments made by Ukrainian natural gas interests to close family members of then-Vice President Biden in return for official actions of consequence. That’s different, apparently.
In Mr. Cuellar’s case, he allegedly fired off a few letters to the White House supporting the Muslim-majority nation in its long-standing feud with Armenia. He also sought State Department help in obtaining a U.S. passport for the daughter of an Azerbaijani diplomat, and he allegedly made moves to block a pro-Armenian resolution authored by a fellow congressional Democrat.
The FBI raided Mr. Cuellar’s home and office on Jan. 19, 2022, so this indictment has been looming. Even so, many prominent Democrats campaigned on Mr. Cuellar’s behalf in the last election cycle. Remember that in November, when the same Democrats say voters can’t trust Donald Trump because he has been indicted.
Mr. Cuellar insists he is innocent, and he is entitled to the benefit of the doubt — though it doesn’t look good. His conduct may not be out of the ordinary in Washington’s corridors of power, but he gave up the immunity the Justice Department grants to politicians who carry water for the Democrats.
Texas Republicans will hold a runoff on May 28 to decide whether retired naval aviator Jay Furman or rancher Lazaro Garza Jr. will challenge Mr. Cuellar in November. The chance for this to become a Republican pickup just went up considerably.
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