Rep. Jamie Raskin Says FBI Should 'Refuse' Orders To Track Down Texas Democrats

WASHINGTON ― Rep. Jamie Raskin (D-Md.) is urging Federal Bureau of Investigation agents to resist taking part in efforts to track down a group of Texas Democrats who fled their state in protest of a mid-decade redistricting effort aimed at boosting Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, which conducts oversight of the FBI, said the agency has no authority to locate and investigate the state legislators as one Senate Republican announced on Thursday.

“The FBI is not a national secret police force operating at the beck and call of President Trump,” Raskin said in a statement to HuffPost. “It has no legal authority to track down state legislators who are breaking no federal laws just for standing up to a Republican scheme to purge Democrats from Congress and rig our elections.”

“FBI personnel should refuse to participate in this act of political harassment and persecution,” the lawmaker added.

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) said earlier on Thursday that FBI Director Kash Patel granted his request for the federal government to assist with locating the group of Texas House Democrats, who are in Chicago this week to meet with state lawmakers there. Texas Republicans are unable to proceed with changing their congressional maps without a quorum present in the state legislature.

“I thank President Trump and Director Patel 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,” Cornyn said in a press release.

The FBI itself has not made any formal announcement about the move. The agency declined to comment when asked for more information on Thursday.

Cornyn is facing reelection next year, and polls show him in deep trouble against his GOP primary challenger, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. The senator has been busy attacking Paxton this week for going on vacation in Europe and for not working hard enough to bring the Texas Democrats back to their state.

The Democratic Senate candidate in the race, former Rep. Colin Allred, meanwhile, slammed Cornyn for politicizing the FBI.

“John Cornyn is playing FBI tough guy, trying to ‘locate’ lawmakers who aren’t hiding,” Allred said in a statement. “He’s weaponizing federal law enforcement to silence dissent, while staying completely silent on actual threats to public safety.”

He added that the GOP senator is using the power of his office to “punish people” who oppose him. “That’s not law and order — it’s a dangerous abuse of power. And we won’t let it stand.”

The Trump administration is moving to squash dissent at the FBI by purging more officials this week, including by ousting the former FBI acting director who resisted demands earlier this year for the names of agents who investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection, and an officer involved in the Jan. 6 probe.

Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, called the moves “nothing short of alarming.”

“The American people deserve to know that federal law enforcement is free to follow the evidence without fear of retribution from the White House or its lackeys,” Warner said in a statement. “President Trump may believe he can manipulate the levers of power to serve his own ends, but history will not judge this recklessness kindly, and neither should Congress.”

Arthur Delaney contributed reporting.