Judge refuses to move trial of cong. Henry Cuellar charged with taking bribes from Azeri firm

South Texas U.S. Rep. Henry Cuellar and his wife must face bribery and corruption charges in Houston rather than their hometown of Laredo, a federal judge ruled last Friday.

U.S. District Judge Lee Rosenthal of Houston cited the Democratic congressman’s outsize influence in Laredo and Houston’s large potential jury pool as key reasons not to relocate the trial, CBS News reports. Cuellar’s attorneys argued that staging the trial in Houston would remove it from the city where most of the alleged crimes took place.

“Houston can handle this case easily, very easily,” Rosenthal said, according to the CBS report.

Federal authorities charged Cuellar and his wife Imelda last year with accepting nearly $600,000 in bribes from an Azerbaijani energy company and a Mexican bank. The congressman has said he and his wife are innocent of the allegations.

The 11-term congressman’s district includes Laredo, part of San Antonio and a large swath of South Texas.

At Friday’s hearing, which was conducted via Zoom, Rosenthal also denied a request by Cuellar’s attorneys to delay the trial, which is expected to begin Sept. 22, according to CBS News.