On Thursday, the FBI agreed to assist in apprehending Texas Democrats who fled the state to block the Texas House from reaching a quorum and conducting legislative business, according to a top U.S. senator representing the Lone Star state.
More than 50 Democratic lawmakers left Texas on Sunday, with many traveling to Chicago, to halt a scheduled vote on redistricting and effectively freeze all activity during the special legislative session. Their departure also served to avoid potential arrest by state law enforcement.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, on Tuesday requested that FBI Director Kash Patel have the FBI locate House Democrats out of state and detain them, according to reports.
“I am proud to announce that Director Kash Patel has approved my request for the FBI to assist state and local law enforcement in locating runaway Texas House Democrats,” Cornyn said.
“I thank President Trump and Director Patel for supporting and swiftly acting on my call for the federal government to hold these supposed lawmakers accountable for fleeing Texas. We cannot allow these rogue legislators to avoid their constitutional responsibilities,” he added.
Meanwhile, during a press conference at the White House on Wednesday, President Trump was asked about Cornyn’s request to the FBI.
“Well, they may have to,” he said of the FBI assisting in detaining the absent Texas Democrats. “I know they want them back. The Governor of Texas is demanding they come back. So, a lot of people are demanding they come back. You can’t just sit it out. You have to go back. You have to fight it. That’s what elections are about.”
But Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R), who is challenging Cornyn in a primary next year, didn’t think much of getting the FBI’s assistance. “This is a state issue. I don’t know what the FBI would have to do with this – nothing. This is a purely state issue,” he said on a podcast.
Cornyn countered that “the FBI has tools to aid state law enforcement when parties cross state lines, including to avoid testifying or fleeing a scene of a crime.”
“Specifically, I am concerned that legislators who solicited or accepted funds to aid in their efforts to avoid their legislative duties may be guilty of bribery or other public corruption offenses,” he added.
On Monday, House Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, signed civil arrest warrants for the absent lawmakers, and by Tuesday, only eight Democrats had returned to the Capitol. Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the remaining members to return to Austin by Monday or face arrest and possible removal from office. He instructed the Texas Department of Public Safety to detain them upon reentering the state and directed the Texas Rangers to investigate potential bribery charges.
Abbott also filed an emergency petition with the Texas Supreme Court seeking the removal of House Democratic Caucus Chair Rep. Gene Wu, D-Houston.
Democratic Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker said Wednesday that the FBI would be “unwelcome” in his state if they attempted to pursue Texas lawmakers who fled there to block a redistricting vote, Fox News reported.
In an interview with News Not Noise with Jessica Yellin, Gov. Pritzker argued that the Texas lawmakers had not violated any federal laws and, as such, the FBI had no jurisdiction to intervene.
“They’re grandstanding. There’s literally no federal law applicable to this situation. None,” Pritzker told the podcaster on Wednesday. “They can say that they’re sending FBI. FBI agents might show up to, I don’t know, put a show on.
“But the fact is, our local law enforcement protects everybody in the state in Illinois. Our state troopers protect anybody in Illinois, and anybody who’s here in Illinois. And so, whether it’s federal agents coming to Illinois or state rangers from Texas, if you haven’t broken federal law, you’re basically unwelcome, and there’s no way that our state legislators here, Texas state legislators, can be arrested,” he claimed.
