The chair of the Texas House Democratic caucus remained defiant Thursday in the face of 1 US senator’s bid to enlist the FBI’s help in returning him and his state House colleagues to the state.
“Sure, if they don’t follow the law,” state Rep. Gene Wu advised NCS’s Pamela Brown on “The Situation Room,” when asked whether or not he was involved the FBI would arrest him and his fellow Texas state House members.
“We know that the governor has no power outside of the state, and we know that the federal government cannot get involved in this unless there is a legal reason why they are allowed to get involved.”
Wu and dozens of Democratic state lawmakers stay outdoors of Texas as they proceed their standoff with the Texas GOP over proposed changes to the state’s congressional maps that would favor Republicans. Earlier this week, state House Speaker Dustin Burrows signed civil arrest warrants for the absent Democrats and stated law enforcement would “need some time to work.”
The warrants empowered state troopers to arrest the absent Democrats and produce them to the Texas Capitol, however the Democrats fled to Illinois, New York and Massachusetts – three Democratic-led states outdoors Texas law enforcement’s authority with out native officials’ cooperation. Legal consultants consulted by NCS have stated it’s extremely unlikely the Democratic lawmakers can be arrested outdoors state strains primarily based on the warrants.
Texas US Sen. John Cornyn, who’s up for reelection subsequent yr, stated Thursday the FBI had granted his request of federal help for state law enforcement, as they work with Texas Republicans to deliver again the lawmakers and reestablish quorum.
“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 stated in an announcement, however didn’t elaborate on what such help would entail.
He advised conservative speak present host Mark Davis later Thursday that Patel had assigned brokers from the bureau’s Austin and San Antonio workplaces to fulfill his request – although didn’t element what function they would have.
The state lawmakers who left the state have held a number of public press conferences and made various media appearances. One location the place lawmakers have been staying acquired a bomb threat earlier this week.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker advised reporters that Republicans threatening law enforcement motion have been making “an attempt again to thwart democracy.”
“So as far as I’m concerned, we’re doing the right thing, and I’m proud of it, and I’m not going to back down,” Pritzker, a Democrat, stated at a press convention. “We’re going to do everything we can to protect these Texas House Democrats and to help them do what they’re doing.”
It’s unclear to what extent brokers are helping Texas Republicans in the matter and beneath what authority they would be allowed to achieve this. The FBI has declined a number of requests for feedback from NCS on the matter.
The same occasion occurred in 2003, when greater than 50 members of the Texas Legislature left the state to forestall a vote on a redistricting plan, and state officials reached out to federal companies to discover and produce again the lawmakers.
But again then, President George W. Bush’s Justice Department refused to help, telling one congressman that they have been “not aware of any information pertinent to the Texas State legislators that would warrant action by federal law enforcement authorities, including those of the FBI.”
“Accordingly, we have not deployed and have no plans to deploy our law enforcement resources in connection with this matter,” the letter from then-Assistant Attorney General William Moschella acknowledged.
In his preliminary request for FBI help, Cornyn recommended that the Democratic lawmakers might be violating the law if they’re accepting funds “to aid in their efforts to avoid their legislative duties” and will “be guilty of bribery or other public corruption offenses.” No such costs have been filed associated to their absence.
Cornyn’s request to the division comes as he and his main foe, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, are every attempting to stake out an aggressive stand on the controversy and try to woo conservative voters of their state.
Cornyn on Tuesday sent a letter to the FBI immediately urging the federal company to assist state law enforcement “to locate or arrest potential lawbreakers who have fled the state.”
“I request the FBI’s assistance, as federal resources are necessary to locate the out-of-state Texas legislators who are potentially acting in violation of the law. 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,” Cornyn wrote.
Paxton acknowledged Tuesday night time on Fox News that it would be troublesome to arrest absent Democrats. His workplace in addition to the workplace of Republican Gov. Greg Abbott have threatened to go to courtroom to vacate the workplaces of people who find themselves presently outdoors the state.
“The challenge here is they go to liberal jurisdictions where we can’t get help from law enforcement. So we have really very limited options,” he stated.
“One is to wait, which several governors have done, and just waited them out because eventually they have to come home. Or two, this … motion or filing that has been done by Abbott, we’re going to file something very similar for more of the legislators to take them out of their office, remove them from office, since they are not showing up to do their job. This is a new thing, it’s never been tried before, but we think it has a very good possibility of being successful.”
Abbott, for his half, warned that “in Texas, there are consequences for your actions.”
“Texas DPS and the FBI are tracking down the derelict Democrats. They will be taken directly to the Texas Capitol,” he stated on X. “Those who received benefits for skipping a vote face removal from office and potential bribery charges.”