Dem governor defies FBI: 'Unwelcome' to pursue Texas Democratic lawmakers
In an interview with "News Not Noise with Jessica Yellin," Pritzker argued that the Texas lawmakers had not broken any federal law, and, therefore, the FBI doesn't have jurisdiction. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, disagreed, sending a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel earlier this week asking the bureau to help locate or arrest "potential lawbreakers" who fled Texas in a maneuver to avoid legislative responsibilities "in violation of their oath of office."
"They're grandstanding. There's literally no federal law applicable to this situation. None," Pritzker told the podcaster on Wednesday. "They can say that they're sending FBI. FBI agents might show up to, I don't know, put a show on. But the fact is, our local law enforcement protects everybody in the state in Illinois. Our state troopers protect anybody in Illinois, and anybody who's here in Illinois. And so, whether it's federal agents coming to Illinois or state rangers from Texas, if you haven't broken federal law, you're basically unwelcome, and there's no way that our state legislators here, Texas state legislators, can be arrested."
Pritzker categorized Cornyn's plea as political theater, noting that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is challenging his U.S. Senate seat. The Illinois governor also took swipes at President Donald Trump and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.
"We follow the law," Pritzker said. "But as you know, Donald Trump does not follow the law. Indeed, he's a convicted felon. And in Texas, they are also not following the law. They are thwarting the Constitution with the Voting Rights Act and making threats that they can't carry out. John Cornyn, of course, is running against Ken Paxton, for his seat in the U.S. Senate, and so they're fighting, bickering over who can be tougher on this topic. But the fact is, I think they're demonstrating as a result of that bickering, and Abbott has weighed in as well, that this really is all about politics."
Abbott convened a special session to try to advance a congressional redistricting plan which could add five new Republican-leaning House seats before the midterms next year.
Trump is pushing Republican states to open the process for redistricting mid-cycle to give the GOP a better chance of maintaining control of the House in the 2026 midterm elections. In Texas, more than 50 Democratic lawmakers fled the state earlier this month to prevent a necessary quorum in the Texas House, which requires at least 100 members of the 150-member body to be present.
Pritzker and fellow Democrats, California Gov. Gavin Newsom and New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, offered sanctuary to those Texas Democrats, applauding the gridlock as a fight to save democracy. Both Newsom and Hochul vowed to "fight fire with fire."
Meanwhile, Texas state Republicans voted to issue civil arrest warrants and $500 daily fines for Democratic colleagues who abandoned their duties.
Trump told reporters on Tuesday that the FBI "may have to" intervene.
In a phone interview on CNBC's "The Squawk Box" on Tuesday, Trump argued that Democratic states, including Massachusetts, California and Illinois, have already pushed redistricting to benefit their own party, so Republicans will do the same.
"In Illinois, where you have probably the dumbest of all governors, Illinois. That guy's really sending – I mean, the business is flowing out of his state. It's terrible. It's a terrible thing that Pritzker is doing. He's you know, he was the black sheep of the family. They threw him out of the business," Trump said. "But in Illinois, what's happened is, is terrible what they're doing – You notice they go to Illinois for safety. But that's all gerrymandered."
"California's gerrymandered," the president continued. "We should have many more seats in Congress in California. It's all gerrymandered. And we have an opportunity in Texas to pick up five seats. We have a really good governor, and we have good people in Texas. And I won Texas. I got the highest vote in the history of Texas, as you probably know. And, we are entitled to five more seats."
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