Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton backtracked on his opposition to using the FBI to help retrieve state Democrats who remain absent. He told The Hill on Wednesday that he's in "full support" of using any means necessary.
Paxton on Tuesday pushed back against enlisting the FBI's assistance in locating and arresting the Democrats, saying the episode is a "purely state issue."
Paxton had a change of heart on Wednesday.
"I'm in full support of using every possible method to secure a quorum and hold lawless Democrat legislators accountable for abandoning Texans, including involving federal authorities and the FBI," Paxton said in a statement to The Hill.
Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, sent a letter to FBI Director Kash Patel on Tuesday, urging the FBI to get involved and assist Texas in bringing back the nearly 60 Democrats who skipped town Sunday in order to thwart a quorum on Monday's legislative session on state redistricting, among other matters.
Though outnumbered in voting, the 57 Democrats fled for Illinois, Massachusetts, and New York and haven't returned, stalling the proceedings. At issue is that Republicans would likely gain five congressional seats ahead of the 2026 midterms.
In the letter, Cornyn told Patel that "federal resources are necessary to locate the out-of-state Texas legislators who are potentially acting in violation of the law."
Paxton pushed back on that Tuesday in an interview with Steve Bannon's "War Room" podcast.
"I don't know what the FBI would have to do with this, nothing. This is a purely state issue, so we are focused on alternatives that we can implement at the state level," Paxton said, The Hill reported.
But then later Tuesday, President Donald Trump said the FBI "may have to get involved."
That came despite a Trump administration official telling NBC News on Monday that there are no plans to employ federal agents in the matter, saying, "Gov. Greg Abbott can handle his own state."
Paxton and the incumbent Cornyn are locked in a contentious and at times nasty Senate primary battle. A Cornyn campaign adviser criticized Paxton for initially pushing back against Cornyn's letter to the FBI, saying, "The adults who are in Texas and on the job will handle it from here."
Paxton fired back Wednesday.
"While I'm focused on doing everything in my power to actually solve the problem, John Cornyn and his team are obsessively making bizarre posts about me on X," Paxton said, according to the report. "It's so transparently desperate that you almost have to feel bad for him."
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.