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President Donald Trump said Tuesday evening that the FBI must “cut off” a “group of Democrats who fled Texas to avoid voting on the state’s proposed constituency map.”
This comes as Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and Texas leaders, including Attorney General Ken Paxton, demanded 50 Democrats in the state legislature to 50 Democrats who faced the state return or consequences.
Democrats fled the state to reject Republicans and deny the two-thirds of quorum needed to vote on the constituency map.
The Democratic Party for the People praised the stunt. At a press conference on Sunday, JB Pritzker, a Democrat with Illinois, shared his support for the Texas Democrats, describing their departure as a “right act of courage” while Republicans arguing that “particularly black and Latino voters” wanted to silence “millions of voices, especially Latino voters.”
The FBI urged Texas Democrats to find and arrest them for fleeing the state.
President Trump said Tuesday that he “must do” the Texas Democrats, who fled the state to block the FBI from voting on rezoning. On the right, the group talks to the media after they leave. (Anna Money Maker/Getty Images, Scott Olson/Getty Images)
Abbott said lawmakers’ commitment to voting as elected state officials is a duty and “not an option.” The governor also said he determined that lawmakers had decided that they had “confiscated their office for the sake of abandonment.” This allows the governor to create vacant seats that can be “quickly filled” under Article 3, Section 13.
After Democrats failed to meet Abbott’s Monday deadline of 4pm, the Texas House Speaker announced he would sign an arrest warrant for absent Democrats if approved by the Chamber ballot. Shortly afterwards, the House approved the warrant, and Abbott promptly called on the Texas Public Safety Department to arrest “democrats in arrested Texas House.”
The Attorney General said lawmakers should “be arrested wherever they go.”
Trump slammed political conspiracy at the White House on Tuesday, when a reporter asked him, “Do you want the federal government and the FBI to help them find and arrest these Texas Democrats who have left the state?”
“All-out War”: Escape from the fugitive with Texas Dems Side, as Radiology standoffs continue
Jean Woo, the Caucus Chair of the Texas House Democratic Party, will speak at a press conference in Illinois on August 3, 2025, after he and dozens of fellow lawmakers fled Texas to block rezoning votes.
The president replied that it would be a bad look for Democrats to “abandon” the nation rather than fighting in Congress.
“Well, I think they’ve abandoned the state,” he said. “No one has seen anything like that despite having done it twice before. And in a way, they seem to have abandoned the nation. It looks very bad.”
Compressing further on whether the FBI should be involved, Trump replied, “Well, maybe they have to.”
“They may have to,” he repeated. “No, they want to get them back. Not just the Attorney General, but the governor wants them. If you’re watching, I mean that the Governor of Texas is demanding that they come back. So, a lot of people are demanding that they come back.
“Butter Knife to the Shooting”: Democrats tore his party’s strategy in rezoning the battle
The view of the Texas Capitol in Austin when the GOP-led rezoning session continues without dozens of House Democrats in the absence of the House. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Asked by Peter Doocy of Fox News Channel if he thought the Texas rezoning plan was worth putting the equally retaliatory blue state at risk, Trump replied, “I’ll do that anyway.”
“Why would I just stop there and do it anyway,” he said. “Look, look at a lot of these states, you know, I see Democrats complaining this morning, they’re complaining from the states they’ve done it, like Massachusetts, like Illinois.”
“The Democrats did it long before we started. They did it here and there. They did it in New York. They did it in many different states,” Trump continued.
California government. Gavin Newsom’s “bipartisan” map is “individually corrupt,” GOP lawmakers argue
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said lawmakers who fled the state have been removed from office and could be held liable for felony charges. (Montinique Monroe/Getty Images)
The president went on to praise Texas’ rezoning plan, saying “there is a tremendous support for it.” He also praised Abbott, saying that the future of the plan depends on him.
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“Texas is a place where it’s done very well in a free corporate attitude that’s the exact opposite of what’s going on with the communist mayor in New York. They know what they’re doing, and they’re doing the right thing,” he said. “So we see what happens. We have a great governor in Texas. He feels strong about it. It’s up to him.”
Elizabeth Pritchett and Alec Schemmel of Fox News Digital contributed to this report.
Peter Pinedo is a political writer for Fox News Digital.
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