A ploy to allow the FBI to catch Texas Democrats and return them to Texas for the special legislative session had one lawyer up in arms on Wednesday.
Texas Democrats fled the state last week to break quorum in the state legislature. The move prevents Texas Republicans from voting to pass a new election map that would take away four Democrat-held seats in the state.
President Donald Trump and Attorney General Pam Bondi are reportedly pushing the new map in Texas and other Republican-held states as a way to maintain the GOP majority following the 2026 midterm elections.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Attorney General Ken Paxton have threatened to arrest any Democrats and force them to return to the state capitol.
So far, the efforts have not worked. But MAGA Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), who will face Paxton in the 2026 primary elections, waded into the fight by requesting that the FBI help locate the Texas Democrats, even though it’s been widely reported that they are in Illinois.
Marc Elias, a constitutional attorney, joined progressive YouTuber Brian Tyler Cohen on his show “No Lies” to discuss the events, which he described as a “charade.”
“The fact that Kash Patel is involved in this is [illustrative] of how absolutely bats— crazy the Republican Party has become; how absolutely lazy the legacy media has become; and how completely insane Texas Republicans are,” Elias said.
Elias pointed out that the FBI has no jurisdiction to conduct such an operation because the Texas Democrats have not committed a federal crime. Leaving the state in protest is not a state crime in Texas either, Elias added.
He added that the FBI’s involvement appears to be a way to boost Cornyn’s chances of defeating Paxton in the midterms.
“John Cornyn thinks that the way he can win his Senate primary against Ken Paxton is to say, ‘Well, Ken Paxton just tried to strip these people of their seats by going to the courts. I was tougher than that. I was for kidnapping,’” Elias said.