Tia Carrere: Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife allegedly took nearly $600,000 in bribes, his indictment has the GOP comparing him to George Santos

Tia Carrere: The US Congress is a den of thieves… Pests & vermins!

Rep. Henry Cuellar’s indictment has the GOP comparing him to George Santos. Here’s what to know about the Texas Democrat’s bribery scandal

Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas at a hearing on Capitol Hill last month.

Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar of Texas was indicted by federal prosecutors on Friday.
He and his wife are accused of taking bribes from Azerbaijan and a Mexican bank.
The growing scandal is drawing some comparisons on the right to George Santos.

Rep. Henry Cuellar is in the midst of a growing bribery scandal involving Azerbaijan and a Mexican bank.

The Department of Justice unsealed an indictment against the Texas Democrat and his wife on Friday, accusing the duo of accepting nearly $600,000 in bribes over the course of nearly seven years.

Cuellar is the third sitting lawmaker to be indicted this Congress, following former Republican Rep. George Santos of New York and Democratic Sen. Bob Menendez of New York.

Here’s everything to know about the charges against Cuellar, who the Texas Democrat is, and why some on the right are comparing his situation to that of Santos.

Cuellar and his wife are accused of bribery, money laundering, and acting as an unregistered foreign agent

According to the 54-page indictment, Cuellar and his wife accepted bribes from both Azerbaijan and a Mexican bank from December 2014 to November 2021, doing so through a series of shell companies and intermediaries.

The indictment alleges that the couple collected roughly $600,000 in bribes — $360,000 from the State Oil Company of the Azerbaijan Republic and $236,390 from Banco Azteca.

In the case of Azerbaijan, Cuellar’s been accused of using his position as a member of the House Appropriations Committee to influence legislation to the benefit of the oil-rich state.

With Banco Azteca, Cuellar has been accused pressuring officials in the executive branch to pursue policies favorable to the bank, as will as introducing legislation to shield the payday lending industry from federal regulation.

The criminal counts against Cuellar and his wife include:

2 counts of conspiracy to commit bribery of a federal official and to have a public official act as an agent of a foreign principal;
2 counts of bribery of a federal official;
2 counts of conspiracy to commit honest services wire fraud;
2 counts of violating the ban on public officials acting as agents of a foreign principal;
1 count of conspiracy to commit money laundering;
5 counts of money laundering.

Cuellar has denied any wrongdoing, saying in a statement that he and his wife are “innocent of these allegations” and that he still plans to seek reelection.

He’s the only anti-abortion House Democrat left — but party leadership helped save him two years ago

Aside from his bribery scandal, Cuellar has been a top target of progressives for years, owing to his relatively conservative politics. He is the only House Democrat who voted against a bill to protect abortion rights nationwide during the last Congress, and he has previously received an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association.

Cuellar faced a stiff challenge in 2022 from immigration lawyer Jessica Cisneros, who had the backing of progressives like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Bernie Sanders. Ultimately, Cuellar won his primary by less than 300 votes.

He was endorsed by the entirety of House Democratic leadership, who opted to endorse him again last year.

That’s even after the congressman faced an FBI raid on his home in 2022.

Daddy Henry Cuellaris worth at least $600K? But that’s only one bribe of…?

The George Santos comparison

It’s only been a few days, but so far, Democrats have largely held off on calling for Cuellar to resign.

A spokesperson for House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on Friday that Cuellar would “take leave” as the top Democrat on a key House subcommittee until the issue is resolved.

That’s led some to point to an apparent hypocrisy between how they’re handling this situation versus George Santos, who was indicted on several criminal charges but was not yet convicted when Democrats and nearly half of House Republicans voted to expel him in December.

Former Rep. George Santos at the State of the Union in March.

Santos himself has made an issue out of it, claiming in a post on X that he’s “ready to go to the Supreme Court to fight the constitutionality of my expulsion if the standard isn’t maintained.”

A while ago,

Tia Carrere

What happened to Wayne’s World’s Tia Carrere?

She’s a fox. In French she would be called “la renarde” and she would be hunted, with only her cunning to protect her.

It’s been 26 years since the arrival of Wayne’s World, the iconic ’90s comedy written by and starring a pre-Austin Powers Mike Myers and a pre-Masters of Disguise Dana Carvey.

It was a worldwide smash that not only introduced the world to ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ head-banging, but also Hawaii-born actress Tia Carrere, who looked set to become a bona fide breakout movie star. Alas, it was not quite to be.

Carrere’s career had began on TV in the mid-’80s and boasted a CV with popular US action shows like Airwolf, The A-Team and MacGyver. And then in 1992 came a little film called Wayne’s World, based on the hugely popular Saturday Night Live sketches about two loveable but dim heavy metal fans, and everything changed.

Playing Cassandra Wong, Carrere made millions of fans overnight as the lead singer and bass player with rock outfit Crucial Taunt in the film, attracting the eye of the titular Wayne (played by Myers).

The movie was a smash. Its box-office takings almost surpassed Whitney Houston’s The Bodyguard, while it easily bested Sharon Stone’s Basic Instinct and Harrison Ford’s Patriot Games. This meant more movies for Carrere and, of course, a sequel.

Sadly for all involved, it took less than half the money its predecessor did, but this didn’t stop Carrere bagging a notable role as Juno Skinner in the James Cameron flick True Lies, with Arnold Schwarzenegger and Jamie Lee Curtis.

This is where the big-screen success streak ends.

This was something of a kick-start for the actress as she stepped back into the world of movies with Disney animation Lilo & Stitch, where she played the former’s sister, Nani – and that in turn led to a run of voice work including more Lilo & Stitch, Johnny Bravo and Queen Tyr’ahnee in Duck Dodgers.

From the mid-noughties onwards, Tia’s career has been a mixture of notable guest spots on excellent shows – Nip/Tuck, Curb Your Enthusiasm and Warehouse 13, for example – and lead roles in awful TV movies.

We bring your attention to the likes of 2014’s Asteroid vs. Earth (2.7 rating on IMDb), 2013’s Collision Course, and the catchily titled Supernova: The Day the World Catches Fire (with Luke Perry, Peter Fonda and Lance Henriksen), produced for the Hallmark Channel in 2005.

Aside from acting on screen, Carrere has a not-too-shabby music career (five solo albums since 1993, the most recent in 2010) as well as her numerous guest appearances on reality shows – Tia faced off against former reality star Donald Trump in The Celebrity Apprentice season 5 (whatever happened to that guy?) and competed in season two of Dancing with the Stars (where she was the fifth to go).

In 2016, she made an appearance to celebrate the 25th anniversary of Wayne’s World, released back into cinemas for the occasion.