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Texas redistricting saga takes a shocking turn



Texas GOP Sen. John Cornyn on Thursday said the FBI will hunt down the Texas
Democratic lawmakers who fled the Lone Star State to prevent Republicans from
passing an undemocratic gerrymander of Texas' congressional districts.

“I am proud to announce that Director Kash Patel has approved my request for
the F.B.I. to assist state and local law enforcement in locating runaway Texas
House Democrats,” Cornyn said in a statement, referring to a letter he sent to
Patel on Tuesday asking for the FBI to get involved in returning the Democratic
lawmakers. “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.”




 



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Of course, Texas Democratic lawmakers are not committing a federal crime by
leaving the state to deny Republicans a quorum, which effectively blocks the
GOP's attempt to rig the state's congressional districts to give Republicans an
additional five seats at Dear Leader Donald Trump's behest.

"The key question here is on what grounds would the FBI be doing this. What is
the crime they are investigating? The FBI can’t just use its vast surveillance
powers to locate random citizens. In fact, that’s what conservatives have long
been so concerned about re [Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act]
authorities," MSNBC justice correspondent Ken Dilanian wrote in a post on X.

Indeed, Illinois Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker—who has vowed to protect the
Democratic lawmakers who fled to his state—said the same at a Wednesday news
conference.

“There literally is no federal law applicable to this situation, none they can
say that they’re sending F.B.I.," Pritzker said, adding that Republicans are
"grandstanding."

Yet that hasn't stopped Cornyn and other Republicans from trying to threaten
the Democratic lawmakers with everything from arrest to expulsion from office.

Cornyn clearly has ulterior motives here. He is facing an existential threat
to his political future in next year's U.S. Senate primary, with polls showing
him currently in a close battle with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

Paxton is running against Cornyn by saying he is not sufficiently
conservative or loyal to Trump, with Paxton stalking Trump to try and get a
failed endorsement. So Cornyn getting the FBI involved to try to get Trump the
outcome he wants out of Texas' congressional maps is likely his way of trying
to beat back those allegations. That makes Cornyn’s request to sic the FBI on
Democratic lawmakers even more abhorrent, as he is weaponizing federal law
enforcement for his own political gain.

Democrats lambasted the weaponization of the FBI.





 



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"This isn’t about 'locating' anyone—they’re not hiding. It’s about silencing
dissent and weaponizing law enforcement," former Rep. Colin Allred (D-TX), who
is running for Senate in 2026, wrote in a post on X. "Cornyn is deputizing the
FBI and Paxton is trying to expel lawmakers because they're both too weak and
corrupt to stand up to Washington. Enough is enough—Texans deserve better."

"One big problem here—what is the crime? If leaving Texas is a crime, like
Cornyn implies, the FBI needs to go get Cancun Cruz first," Rep. Gwen Moore
(D-WI) wrote in a post on X, referring to Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz, who was
bestowed the nickname after he fled Texas amid deadly winter power outages in
2021.

This isn’t the only time Trump and the GOP have reverted to fascist tactics.
In June, Trump sent in the military to police protesters demonstrating against
the fascist Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids.

Ultimately, Democrats said they are undeterred by the latest undemocratic
actions of Trump and the GOP.

“Shouldn’t the F.B.I. be tracking down terrorists, drug traffickers and child
predators?” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a post on X. “The
Trump administration continues to weaponize law enforcement to target political
adversaries. These extremists don’t give a damn about public safety. We will
not be intimidated.”



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