Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said on Aug. 7 that the FBI responded to his request to help arrest Democratic lawmakers from the Texas House of Representatives who left the state in a bid to block a GOP-led redistricting effort.
Earlier this week, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also ordered the arrest of those Democrats, although his power is limited to within the state of Texas.
Meanwhile, the FBI director has not publicly responded to Cornyn’s request or the political situation that is unfolding in Texas.
The FBI’s press office did not respond to a request for comment.
On Aug. 6, Abbott suggested in an interview with podcast host Dana Loesch that the FBI was going to assist in the search for the Democrats. Earlier that day, Abbott urged the Texas Supreme Court to remove state Rep. Gene Wu, chair of the Texas House Democratic Caucus.
The Democratic state lawmakers said they have left Texas to block the state House from reaching a quorum, a necessary step for state House Republicans to advance the redistricting legislation or other measures.
While Cornyn did not make mention of the redistricting effort, he said in his letter that the state House needs to conduct business to deal with issues plaguing Texas, such as providing funding in the aftermath of the deadly floods that killed more than 100 people in the central part of the state in July.
He also said he is concerned that the state lawmakers “solicited or accepted funds” that allowed them to “avoid their legislative duties,” which he said may be a form of “bribery or other public corruption offenses.”
Cornyn was referring to donations that were provided to Democrats to pay the daily fines they face for preventing the legislative session from starting.
Earlier this week, Wu said state Democrats are “getting a lot of small-dollar donations ... and that’s going to be used to help keep this thing going.”
Wu, a former prosecutor from Houston, said the suggestion of bribery is a “monstrously stupid” notion.
“No member is leaving because they might get a campaign contribution that might restore some of the money that they’re spending,” he said.
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker, a Democrat, has welcomed the Texas lawmakers to his state but has indicated that he has not financially supported them. Texas state Rep. James Talarico, who has built a national following in recent weeks, said the lawmakers told Pritzker that they did not want him to fund their trip.
“We’ve already been inundated with donations from across the state of Texas, from across the country, just regular people donating $5, $10, $15,” Talarico said this week, claiming that the donations are “appropriate, because this fight is for the people and it should be funded by the people.”
“We don’t have billionaires who are funding this operation,” he said.
Cornyn also said his request to Patel and the FBI is a “time-sensitive” issue because the Legislature is in a special session with two weeks left. President Donald Trump has also said that he backs the redistricting effort.
