Texas Gov. Abbott orders arrest of Democrats who fled over redistricting
Aug. 4 (UPI) -- Texas Gov. Greg Abbott ordered the arrest Monday of House Democrats after they fled the state before a vote could be taken on proposed redistricting maps.
The Democratic lawmakers fled to Illinois, New York and Massachusetts to prevent a quorum Monday afternoon and the advancement of voter maps that would benefit Republicans in next year's midterm elections.
"Texas House Democrats abandoned their duty to Texans," Abbott, a Republican, said in a statement. "By fleeing the state, Texas House Democrats are holding hostage critical legislation to aid flood victims and advance property tax relief. There are consequences for dereliction of duty."
"I ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to locate, arrest and return to the House chamber any member who has abandoned their duty to Texans," Abbott continued. "This order will remain in effect until all missing Democrat House members are accounted for and brought to the Texas Capitol."
On Monday, Texas House Republicans voted 85-to-6, authorizing the House sergeant-at-arms to arrest Democrats who fled the state in protest and prevented a quorum. According to the Texas Constitution, two-thirds of the state House must be present to conduct legislative business.
The proposed congressional redistricting map, released last month, could add five new GOP congressional seats. The American Civil Liberties Union of Texas claims the maps were "designed to dilute the voting power of communities of color."
In addition to facing arrest, the missing House members also face $500 daily fines for breaking quorum. Abbott said he will investigate any Democrat who solicits funds to support their effort.
"Reports indicate that many absentee Texas House Democrats have solicited or received funds to evade conducting legislative business and casting votes. Under the Texas Penal Code, any of those Democrats who solicit, accept or agree to accept such funds to assist in the violation of legislative duties or for purposes of skipping a vote may have violated bribery laws," Abbott said. "Also, it could be a bribery violation for any other person who offers, provides or agrees to provide such funds to fleeing Democrat House members."
The Texas House Democratic Caucus issued their response Monday to Abbott's threat, saying, "Come and take it."
Texas House Democratic Caucus Chair Gene Wu told reporters in Illinois that it was within their moral responsibility to leave the state.
"We're not here to have fun. We're not here because it is easy, and we did not make the decision to come here today lightly," Wu said. "But we come here today with absolute moral clarity that this is absolutely the right thing to do to protect the people of the state of Texas."
The Texas House is scheduled to reconvene Tuesday at 1 p.m., local time. The current special session is scheduled to end on Aug. 19.
Texas state Rep. John Bucy said Democrats are "not running away" but instead "running into the fight."
"Look, I didn't run for office to walk out of the Capitol, but I also didn't run for office to stand by while democracy is stolen in broad daylight," Bucy said from Illinois.
"Texas Democrats broke quorum because sometimes, the only way to uphold your oath is to refuse to play along with a rigged game."
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
San Francisco Chronicle
26 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Trump wields influence over GOP and keeps potential successors vying for his favor
WASHINGTON (AP) — Although President Donald Trump has not directly said he thinks JD Vance should be the heir to his 'Make America Great Again' base of support, he acknowledged this week that his vice president is probably the favorite to succeed him "at this point." But even as he promoted Vance, Trump also made sure to mention Secretary of State Marco Rubio, telling reporters at the White House on Tuesday that his administration's top diplomat is 'somebody that maybe would get together with JD in some form' on a future political ticket. The remarks reflect the massive influence the Republican president currently has over his party. They also serve to promote two of Trump's top advisers without telegraphing the president's singular preference for a successor. Not definitively anointing Vance, or any other Republican, keeps those hoping to succeed Trump vying for his favor, both inside his administration and in the wider Republican field of possible contenders. Speaking with reporters following an executive order signing at the White House, Trump was asked if Vance were the 'heir apparent to MAGA.' 'I think most likely, in all fairness, he's the vice president," Trump said. "I think Marco is also somebody that maybe would get together with JD in some form. ... It's too early obviously, to talk about it, but certainly he's doing a great job and he would be, probably favorite at this point.' When Trump selected the then-39-year-old Vance over other more established Republicans — including Rubio — as his running mate last year, many theorized that Trump was planning for the future of his political movement, angling for a vice president who could carry MAGA forward. Vance has embraced the role at every turn, doing the president's bidding on everything from his relationship with Ukraine to the fight over records related to the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking scandal. Trump, meanwhile, has not hesitated to give Vance high-visibility assignments. As the White House promotes mid-decade redistricting efforts in Texas — and acknowledges it would like the notion to expand to other states — Vance is expected Thursday to discuss redrawing district lines with Gov. Mike Braun during a trip to Indiana. While there, Vance will also headline a fundraiser for the Republican National Committee, which he serves as treasurer. In June he traveled to Los Angeles trip to tour a multiagency Federal Joint Operations Center and a mobile command center amid clashes between protesters and police and outbreaks of vandalism and looting following immigration raids across Southern California. And earlier this year, Vance was in swing congressional districts in his role as lead cheerleader for Trump's signature tax cut and spending law, an assortment of conservative priorities that Republicans dubbed the 'One Big, Beautiful Bill.' He also lobbied senators on Capitol Hill, working to swing GOP holdouts to support the legislation, and in July cast a tie-breaking vote to get the measure passed in the Senate. He's also taken on a robust role related to foreign policy, holding meetings of his own with world leaders, including Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during a trip to New Delhi, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. Rubio, who has described Vance as among his closest friends in politics, said on Fox News Channel on Sunday that he felt Vance "would be a great nominee if he decides he wants to do that.' Other Republicans mentioned as possible 2028 contenders are already making the rounds of early-voting states. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin speaks at a GOP fundraiser in South Carolina this weekend, and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders headlines an event in that state later this month. Both have taken pains to stay in the president's good graces. Not every Republican contender has gone that route. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, who lost the 2016 nomination to Trump, has been visiting early-voting states, too, but he voted against the president's signature legislative measure. And Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp — who has long harbored ambitions to run for president but has a complicated history with Trump — recently said he was sitting out of a Senate race in his state, a decision telegraphed by some as an indication Kemp might be eyeing the 2028 White House race.
New York Post
26 minutes ago
- New York Post
Mayor Eric Adams once again denied public funds for NYC re-election bid while Mamdani, Sliwa granted millions
4 Mayor Eric Adams was once again denied matching funds in his re-election bid. Lev Radin/Shutterstock Mayor Eric Adams' re-election bid was denied matching funds once again — this time losing out on $3 million as the city's campaign finance watchdog accused his camp of obstruction. The City Campaign Finance Board hinted the mayor, who is running as an independent in the November election, may never see a dime as it believes his first campaign for City Hall in 2021 may have violated the law. 'The board determined Mayor Adams campaign has failed to demonstrate eligibility for public funds payments at this time, on two grounds. One, failure to provide requested information and two, reason to believe the campaign has violated the law with respect to the failure to provide requested information,' said Board Chair Frank Schaffer. 4 James Keivom 'The board finds the campaign has provided incomplete and misleading information to the CFB, and has impeded the CFB staff's ability to complete its investigation,' Schaffer said of the regulatory body's ongoing probe into alleged misconduct during Adams' 2021 campaign. The board has repeatedly refused to allow Adams' re-election bid to cash in on the city's generous 8-to-1 matching funds program, starting in December, when it first cut the mayor off from the program. It has cited both Adams' since-dismissed federal indictment on bribery and corruption charges, and his team's refusal to answer a number of outstanding demands for documentation about fundraising. The campaign has maintained that it is up to date with the board's requests. It expected the spigot of taxpayer cash to be turned on after securing a win in court last month, when a judge ruled Adams could not be denied funds based on the past criminal case. 4 Democratic candidate Zohran Mamdani brought in an additional $1.6 million, bringing his general election total to over $2.5 million. REUTERS 'We are reviewing all legal options, including formal action to compel the release of public matching funds,' said campaign spokesperson Todd Shapiro. 'We will not allow a vague and bureaucratic process to undermine the democratic right of our supporters to participate in this election.' The denial delivers another blow to Adams, who is struggling to recover from poor approval numbers and the political fallout from his case dismissal. His re-elect bid pulled in a massive $1.5 million haul after socialist Zohran Mamdani's upset win in the June Democratic primary, bringing Adams' total fundraising to over $6 million in private donations. Hizzoner is within $2 million of the $8 million fundraising threshold, and the CFB estimates he has about $4.27 million left to spend as of July. At the same time, the board approved $1.68 million in matching funds for Mamdani and signed off on $1.91 million for GOP nominee Curtis Sliwa. 4 GOP nominee Curtis Sliwa brought in $1.9 million. Stephen Yang Mamdani maxed out his fundraising in the primary, bringing in over $7 million. The latest campaign boost brings his cash on hand to over $5 million, while Sliwa has over $2 million to spend with the new matching funds. Former Gov. Andrew Cuomo, who is running as an independent after his embarrassing defeat to Mamdani in the Dem primary, did not fundraise during the last period, according to his campaign. As of July 15, he had $1.17 million to spend of his cash from the primary race. Independent Jim Walden was also granted $237,000 in taxpayer money for the general election, bringing his account balance to around $1.6 million.
40 minutes ago
What's known and not yet known about the Justice Department's scrutiny of Trump-Russia probe origins
WASHINGTON -- News that Attorney General Pam Bondi is advancing a criminal investigation into the Obama-era origins of the Trump-Russia investigation means that one of the most studied, and politically polarizing, chapters of modern American history will be under the microscope yet again. Here's a look at what's known and not yet known about the latest Justice Department revelation: Perhaps no issue continues to aggravate President Donald Trump more than the assessment by intelligence officials that Russia interfered in the 2016 election on his behalf and the investigation by law enforcement into whether his campaign colluded with Moscow to tip the outcome of the contest. Robert Mueller, the former FBI director tapped as special counsel by Trump's first Justice Department to investigate, found that Russia had waged a multi-prong operation in Trump's favor and that the Republican president's campaign welcomed the aid. But Mueller did not find sufficient evidence of a criminal conspiracy between Russia and the Trump campaign. As president for a second time, Trump has made no secret of his desire to use the Justice Department as a weapon of retribution against perceived political adversaries he sees as having smeared him, including by calling for Obama-era officials to be jailed. And his administration, now more broadly and across multiple agencies, has been engaged in a effort to reopen the long-accepted conclusion — including among prominent Republicans — of Russian interference and to scrutinize the officials involved in reaching that assessment. Bondi, a Trump loyalist, has directed Justice Department prosecutors to investigate the Russia inquiry and has authorized the use of a grand jury. Grand juries are tools used by prosecutors to issue subpoenas for records and testimony and to produce indictments based on the evidence they receive. The bar is low for an indictment given that the presentation of evidence by prosecutors is one-sided, though grand juries do have the option to decline to indict and have done so in the past. A person familiar with the matter confirmed Bondi's directive to The Associated Press but key questions remain. The Justice Department has not disclosed, for instance, which prosecutors are pursuing the investigation, where the grand jury that might hear evidence is located and whether and when law enforcement officials might seek to bring criminal charges. The Justice Department, in an unusual statement last month, appeared to confirm the existence of an investigation into former FBI Director James Comey and former CIA Director James Brennan but provided no details. It's not clear who might be targeted in the investigation, but the Trump administration has been aggressively challenging intelligence community conclusions about Russia's actions and intentions that had seemed settled long ago. It's been a welcome diversion for the administration as it confronts a wave of criticism from Trump's base and conservative influencers over the handling of records from the Jeffrey Epstein sex trafficking investigation. In the last month, Trump administration officials and allies have released a series of documents aimed at casting doubt on the extent of interference and at portraying the original Russia investigation as an Obama administration frame-job. The documents have been hailed by Trump and other supporters as incontrovertible proof of a conspiracy, but a close inspection of the records shows they fall well short of that. Among the documents released by Tulsi Gabbard, the administration's director of national intelligence, are emails showing that Obama administration officials recognized in 2016 that Russians had not hacked state election systems to manipulate votes in favor of Trump. But the absence of evidence that votes were switched — something the Obama administration never alleged — has no bearing on the ample evidence of other forms of Russia interference, including a hack-and-leak operation involving Democratic emails and a covert social media campaign aimed at sowing discord and spreading disinformation. Last week, Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Republican chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, released a previously classified annex of a 2023 report by John Durham, the special counsel appointed by the first Trump administration to hunt for government misconduct in the Trump-Russia investigation. The annex included a series of emails, including one from July 2016 that was purportedly sent by a senior staffer at a philanthropic organization founded by billionaire investor George Soros, that referred to a plan approved by then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton to link Trump to Russia at a time when the public was focusing on her use of a private email server. But Durham's own report took pain to note that investigators had not corroborated the communications as authentic and that the alleged author had no recollection of drafting the email. The report said the Durham team's best assessment was that the message was 'a composites of several emails' the Russians had obtained from hacking — raising the likelihood that it was a product of Russian disinformation. Fresh scrutiny has also centered around the intelligence community assessment on Russian election interference published in January 2017. An annex in a classified version of the assessment contained a summary of the so-called Steele dossier — a compilation of opposition research that included uncorroborated rumors and salacious gossip about Trump and Russia. Just as Russian interference has been heavily scrutinized, so too has the U.S. government's response to it. Multiple government reports, including not only from Mueller but also a Republican-led Senate intelligence committee that included current Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have documented Russia's activities in painstaking detail. To be sure, reports from the Justice Department inspector general and Durham also identified significant flaws in the FBI's Russia investigation, including errors and omissions in applications the Justice Department submitted to a secretive surveillance court to eavesdrop on a national security adviser to the 2016 Trump campaign. But Durham found no criminal wrongdoing among senior government officials, bringing three criminal cases — two against private citizens that resulted in acquittals at trial and a third against a little-known FBI lawyer who pleaded guilty to doctoring an email. It is unclear if there is any criminal misconduct that exists that Durham, who launched his investigation in 2019 and concluded it four years later, somehow missed during his sprawling inquiry.
