Attorneys for Rep. Henry Cuellar asked a federal court to throw out last year’s federal indictment against the Texas Democrat, arguing it violates the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause. Cuellar’s legal team, in a filing Friday in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, argued the indictment contains at least 16 “glaring violations” of the clause, which protects lawmaker speech but is often used by congressional politicians as a defense in corruption cases. The indictment accused the Texas Democrat and his wife of taking about $600,000 in bribes from the government of Azerbaijan and a foreign bank headquartered in Mexico City. Cuellar is facing a string of federal charges, including money laundering, bribery of a federal official and conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud. He has argued he’s innocent of the allegations and a trial is scheduled for September. The indictment states that Cuellar, in exchange for bribes, promised to influence U.S. foreign policy in favor of Azerbaijan and influence federal regulation of the financial industry to benefit the foreign bank. His lawyers in the motion contend part of the indictment includes allegations “about the core deliberative and communicative process of the Congressman in the House of Representatives in carrying out his legislative duties.” Among them, they pointed to allegations that Cuellar put language within the National Defense Authorization Act, that he was given talking points about a potential amendment to a House bill and that a Cuellar staffer reached out to a businessperson to get input on Azerbaijan-related language in a House Appropriations Committee report. The indictment “invaded the awesome power” of the Speech or Debate Clause, as it alleged that “legislative acts are criminal predicate acts,” Cuellar’s lawyer wrote. “These predicate acts are inextricably tied into the indictment and give reason to believe grand jury violations occurred,” the attorneys argue.
