Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, said Thursday that the FBI has approved his request for federal law enforcement to help locate Texas Democratic lawmakers who left the state to block GOP redistricting efforts.
"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.
Cornyn also thanked Patel and President Donald Trump for "supporting and swiftly acting on my call for the federal government to hold these supposed lawmakers accountable for fleeing Texas."
"We cannot allow these rogue legislators to avoid their constitutional responsibilities," he added.
Cornyn told conservative talk radio host Mark Davis that Patel “responded to me directly, saying that he has assigned agents in both the San Antonio and Austin office to meet my request.”
A spokesperson for Cornyn’s office deferred to the FBI for further details about the request. Spokespersons for the FBI, the San Antonio field office and the Justice Department declined to comment.
The Texas House Democratic Caucus did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Cornyn sent a letter to Patel on Tuesday arguing that "the FBI has tools to aid state law enforcement when parties cross state lines, including to avoid testifying or fleeing a scene of a crime."
Trump said Tuesday that federal authorities might need to get involved. Asked by a reporter whether the federal government and the FBI should help find and arrest the lawmakers, Trump said, "They may have to."
An administration official told NBC News on Monday that there were no plans to use federal agents to arrest lawmakers who had left Texas. The official said Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, "can handle his own state."
Abbott said Monday that he had ordered state authorities to arrest the lawmakers.
It's unclear exactly what role the FBI would play given that no criminal warrants have been filed against the lawmakers. The state House speaker issued civil warrants, but federal agents would not have the authority to act on them.
A federal law enforcement official familiar with the situation told NBC News that as of Thursday morning, FBI agents had not taken any actions to try to locate the lawmakers.
Many of the legislators who left Texas have been speaking at news conferences and in interviews in different states, including New York, Massachusetts and Illinois.
On Wednesday, Texas legislators were evacuated from a suburban Chicago hotel after a threat. A bomb squad did not find a device, police said.
Cornyn and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton are locked in a competitive Republican primary race for Cornyn’s Senate seat. Trump has not yet made an endorsement in the primary, which is set for May.
Paxton said Monday that it was “imperative" that the Democratic legislators "be swiftly arrested, punished, and face the full force of the law for turning their backs on the people of Texas.”
Democratic legislators left Texas last weekend to deny Republican lawmakers a quorum as they tried to push forward a redistricting plan that could allow the GOP to pick up five seats in Congress next year.
