عربي ودولي

رد فعل الديمقراطيين على مكتب التحقيقات الفيدرالي

Dems' FBI clap-back

House Democrats are probing the FBI’s efforts to help locate the Democratic state legislators who fled Texas last weekend.

Why it matters: The lawmakers are arguing the operation is a partisan misuse of federal resources for combating serious crimes, including terrorism and drug trafficking.

• The investigation is being led by House Oversight Committee ranking member Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin (D-Md.), and Reps. Greg Casar (D-Texas) and Jasmine Crockett (D-Texas).
• ✏️ In a letter today to Attorney General Pam Bondi and FBI director Kash Patel, they expressed “great concern” about the “abuse of federal public safety resources for completely political purposes and without a law enforcement rationale.”

📢 What they’re saying: The four Democrats noted breaking quorum has “occurred periodically” in Texas history, most recently in 2003 and 2021.

• They also pointed to a similar effort by then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay (R-Texas) to enlist the feds’ help in tracking down Democratic legislators in 2003 that resulted in a bevy of judicial and ethical backlash.
• They noted that Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who spearheaded the effort to get involved, is facing a tough reelection primary challenge to his right from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The other side: “When Democrat state legislators abandon their post, bring state business to a halt, violate the state constitution and let Beto’s PAC and other dark money sources to pay for it, yes we should have law enforcement resources investigate,” Cornyn said in a post on X.     — Andrew Solender