On Wednesday, agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigations descended on Congressman Henry Cuellar’s Laredo home and campaign office. The agents conducted what the department is calling a “court-authorized” search. Henry Cuellar is one of the Democratic Party’s most conservative members and one of the top Congressional recipients of oil & gas money.
The FBI declined to confirm the nature of their investigation. “The FBI was present in the vicinity of Windridge Drive and Estate Drive in Laredo conducting court-authorized law enforcement activity,” a department spokesperson said in a statement. “The FBI cannot provide further comment on an ongoing investigation.” However, according to CNN, the Department of Justice’s Public Integrity Unit is also involved in this investigation, which may shed some light onto the nature of the raids.
Shortly after the news broke, Cuellar’s office released a statement confirming the Congressman will cooperate, “Congressman Cuellar will fully cooperate in any investigation. He is committed to ensuring that justice and the law are upheld.”
Cuellar is currently fending off a progressive primary challenger, Jessica Cisneros who came within a few percentage points of unseating him in 2020. This investigation is likely to complicate things for his re-election campaign, as early voting is set to begin in a few weeks.
Cisneros also released a statement regarding the FBI’s raid, “We are aware of the news regarding Congressman Cellar and the active FBI investigation. We are closely watching as this develops. In the meantime, we are focused on our campaign to deliver change to South Texas families and will not be making any additional comments at this time.”
Ben brings over four years of experience as a political communications manager and graphic designer to Texas Signal, where he serves as our Social Media Manager and does everything from designing graphics and posting on social media, to writing a column about current events. Ben was the Social Media Director for College Democrats of America during the historic 2018 midterms when Democrats swept the House of Representatives. Ben was a first-generation university student and graduated from Texas State University with a Bachelor’s degree in Public Administration.
