Texas Senator Says Trump’s FBI Agreed to Help Track Down and Return Runaway Democrats

Mediaite ^ | August 7,2025 | Alex Griffing

[Miami Rebel]

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), Texas’s senior senator up for reelection in 2026, announced on Thursday that FBI Director Kash Patel agreed to his request for federal agents to help Texas law enforcement track down and return runaway Democratic lawmakers.

Cornyn wrote a letter on Tuesday urging Patel to help return some 50 state lawmakers who fled the state to try and delay a state House vote on a new congressional map. Democrats are trying to delay the vote by not allowing the GOP-controlled body to have a quorum — a minimum number of members present in order to conduct official business.

Cornyn’s request came a day after the Texas House of Representatives voted to compel the lawmakers to return to the body in order to vote on the highly controversial redistricting effort to try and net the national Republican Party 5 more seats in Congress. Cornyn’s letter accused the absent Democrats of possible criminal acts, without citing any evidence, saying “they may be guilty of bribery or other public corruption offenses.”

The state House officially empowered Texas state troopers and the House’s sergeant-at-arms to track down the members and arrest them, but they would not face any kind of charges under the order. The Texas arrest warrants are also only valid inside Texas’s border – making them purely symbolic and the FBI’s role in enforcing them unclear.

“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 in a statement. “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.”

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) hit back at the idea of federal agents coming into his state to detain the Democratic lawmakers who fled there. Pritzker told Jessica Yellin on her News Not Noise podcast on Wednesday, saying, “The fact is that you know our local law enforcement protect everybody in Illinois. Our state troopers protect everybody in Illinois and anybody who’s here in Illinois.” He added that “if you haven’t broken federal law” and are in his state, “there’s no way” you can be arrested by the FBI.

INBOX: Sen. @JohnCornyn says the FBI has granted his request for federal authorities to assist Texas law enforcement in locating Texas House Democrats who fled the state over the Republican redistricting plan. pic.twitter.com/Fv32rKXkBj

— Reena Jade Diamante (@reenajade) August 7, 2025

---

TOPICS: Miscellaneous
KEYWORDS: cornhole; democrats; patel; texas

[cuban leaf]

I agree.

[Political Junkie Too]

Tell me about fleeing the jurisdictions of the Sergeant at arms to avoid arrest.

-PJ

[Miami Rebel]

I have no clue, but I’m certain that it doesn’t constitute a criminal offense.