Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) is asking the FBI to intervene in the redistricting fight playing out in Texas.
Some Texas Democrats left on Sunday to deny the state House quorum and block the state legislature from voting on a Trump-backed mid-decade redistricting map to help the GOP keep control of the US House of Representatives after the midterms.
The speaker of the Texas House issued civil warrants on Monday for the arrest of the absent Democrats. Gov. Greg Abbott (R) also directed the state police to assist the Texas House in executing those civil warrants.
On Tuesday, Cornyn took it a step further by asking the FBI to help Texas law enforcement find or arrest the lawmakers who left the state and are currently in New York, Illinois and Massachusetts.
“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,” Cornyn wrote in a letter to the FBI director Kash Patel. “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 also echoed an accusation by Abbott that the absent Democrats and people who support them may be violating bribery laws over the funding of the walkout.
“These legislators have committed potential criminal acts in their rush to avoid their constitutional responsibilities and must be fully investigated and held accountable,” Cornyn wrote in the letter. “I urge you to work with Texas public officials to provide them the support they need.”
Rep. Gene Wu, Democratic House leader in Texas, told the New York Times that Cornyn was “threatening to misuse the F.B.I. in a pathetic attempt to prove his extremist credentials” to his party’s voters.
“Good luck with that,” he added.
Cornyn is facing a tough primary challenge from far right Texas attorney general Ken Paxton.
