Tim Pool Daily Show - Trump THREATENS Democrats With ARREST From FBI Over Fleeing Texas

All Episodes

Aug. 6, 2025 - Tim Pool Daily Show

52:56

Trump THREATENS Democrats With ARREST From FBI Over Fleeing Texas

Participants

Main voices

briscoe cain

13:40

tim pool

32:48

Appearances

jb pritzker

01:35

stephen colbert

01:33

Large

Audio Only |

Scroll

Show episode speakers

Speaker	Time	Text
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		The battle is raging on, my friends.
		Oh boy, I'm gone for the weekend.
		I get sick, and what do we have?
		Democrats fleeing Texas to avoid doing their jobs, breaking quorum so that Texas cannot redistrict.
		Now, the argument they're making is that once every 10 years when they do the census, they then draw up new maps.
		This is mid-decade redistricting.
		It is extremely rare, if not unprecedented.
		And Donald Trump specifically called on Texas to do this because they saw Texas actually had an opportunity to redistrict, which would get rid of some pesky Democrats, perhaps that Jasmine woman.
		And it would also grant the Republicans five extra seats in the coming midterms.
		You know what the problem is for the Democrats?
		This is democracy.
		And when you elections have consequences.
		When you lose an election, the people who win are able to run things the way they see fit.
		Now, Republicans have stated, Greg Abbott specifically, that there are people in this state who voted for Donald Trump who don't have an opportunity at true representation because of the way the state is districted.
		And so they're drawing it up for the new trends they've seen since 2024.
		Honestly, I don't care.
		They may say they're cheating.
		Trump is specifically trying to gerrymander, but look to where they flee.
		You know what?
		I'm going to say something I never thought I was going to say, my friends.
		This is going to shock many of you, but shout out to Stephen Colbert.
		I know it hurts to say almost, but Colbert actually confronted Governor Pritzker of Illinois on their ridiculous gerrymandered map.
		Being from that state myself, this one strikes at the core of the issue of gerrymandering.
		Illinois is so psychotic.
		And I know over the past week, people have been bringing this up quite a bit over the past several days, but I cannot wait to break down this map for you, the gerrymandering map of various states and how they rip us off and have my whole life in Illinois and then have the gall to say that Republicans have done something wrong in Texas.
		You know, you win elections, you can play that game.
		And that's exactly what they're doing in Illinois.
		And now they're claiming, they're saying we have a retribution plan in various other blue states to do the same thing.
		The only problem, blue states are already heavily gerrymandered.
		And you can take a look at how the states are structured with or without gerrymandering in the first place in terms of representation.
		So, by all means, say what you want to say.
		But when we take a look at a lot of these East Coast states and Midwest states, you've got no room to stand.
		Okay, the funny thing is, they say, then we'll gerrymander.
		You already did.
		Already did.
		To be fair, when you look at the gerrymandering project, this is this university organization that shows the various states, Texas and Illinois aren't doing well as it is.
		They're considered to be bad gerrymanderers.
		But I am also going to defend gerrymandering, too.
		I'm going to defend this practice.
		It's not always.
		I mean, gerrymandering does refer to how they isolate districts and make these fake ones.
		But sometimes people look at the shape of a district and they assume it means something nefarious.
		Not always.
		Not always.
		Sometimes it's because we don't live in communist block housing grids.
		And there's reasons why we exclude certain portions from certain districts, which I'll get into.
		But let's break this down, my friends.
		Then later, we'll be joined by a rep from Texas to talk about exactly what's going on and whether or not the FBI should actually get involved because you've got a Texas rep saying the FBI needs to go grab these people, arrest them.
		Arrest warrants have already been issued.
		We'll see how this plays out.
		Smash that like button, my friends.
		Share the show with everyone you know.
		Shout out to Stephen Crowder and the Mug Club.
		Welcome to your Rumble Morning lineup.
		It is the noon hour as we shift into the afternoon.
		You can follow me, your host, Tim Poole, on X and Instagram at Timcast.
		And before we get started, my friends, we got a great sponsor.
		Shout out to AmericanFinancing.net slash Tim.
		My friends, what if you could delay your next two mortgage payments?
		That's right.
		Imagine putting those two payments in your pocket and finally getting a little breathing room.
		It's possible when you call American Financing today.
		If you're feeling stretched by everyday expenses, groceries, gas bills piling up, you're not alone.
		Most Americans are putting these expenses on credit cards, and there doesn't seem to be a way out.
	American financing can show you how to use your home's equity to pay off that debt.
	You need to call American Financing today before you get to a point where you can't make those payments.
	The salary-based mortgage consultants are helping homeowners just like you restructure their loans and consolidate debt, all without upfront fees.
	And their customers are saving an average of $800 a month.
	That's like $10,000 raise for the year, right?
	It's fast, it's simple, and it could save your budget this summer.
	So call right now before it's too late, 866-890-7811.
	That's 866-890-7811 or visit americanfinancing.net slash Tim.
	I also want to shout out the new uncancelable skateboards at boonieshq.com.
	This one's real important, ladies and gentlemen.
	You see this, your skateboard?
	That symbol the left calls an iron cross.
	It's literally not an iron cross.
	It is the independent skateboard logo, but they abandoned it so it no longer is.
	Several years ago, one of the most iconic brands in skateboarding abandoned their logo.
	One of the most iconic, I'll say it again, because they were called racist.
	As soon as they did, we made skateboards and we started selling them.
	And I have claimed this IP as they have abandoned it for boonies for Tim for Timcast.
	And we have had this featured on a show.
	You can buy the uncancelable board at boonieshq.com because they've walked away from it.
	Because they've said, we are scared of the left and being called racist.
	I got no problem now claiming what is one of the most iconic symbols in skateboarding.
	By all means, run scared from the angry activists.
	I won't.
	We won't.
	Pick up your board at boonieshq.com today and let the left know we will not be intimidated and you can't call us racist to scare us into breaking our own culture.
	I won't stand for it.
	Let's talk about the news, my friends.
	We got this from Newsweek.
	Donald Trump issues FBI warning to fleeing Texas Democrats.
	President Trump said the FBI may have to get involved to locate Texas Democrats who fled the state to block redrawn U.S. House maps sought by the president.
	Trump made the remarks during a news conference on Tuesday after being asked about Republican Senator John Cornyn's request that the FBI helped find and arrest the Democrats.
	Newsweek has contacted the White House, the FBI, and a spokesperson for the Texas House Democrats for a comment via email sent outside regular business hours.
	They say why it matters.
	Dozens of Texas House Democrats left the state on August 3rd in a bid to stall the redrawn congressional maps that Trump wants before the 2026 midterm.
	Elections to bolster Republican chances of preserving its majority.
	Republicans hold an 88 to 62 majority in the Texas House of Representatives.
	And the Texas Constitution requires that at least 100 members be present to do business.
	With at least 51 Democrats absent, the House failed to reach a quorum for a vote on the new maps on Monday and again on Tuesday.
	Republicans have made numerous attempts to compel Democrats back to the state, including signing civil arrest warrants and mobilizing state troopers.
	Republican Governor Greg Abbott also ordered Texas Rangers to investigate possible bribery charges related to how Democrats are paying for their quorum break, alleging anyone who financially helped them leave the state could be culpable.
	In a letter to Cash Patel, Cornyn urged the agency to take any appropriate steps to aid in Texas state law enforcement efforts to locate and arrest potential lawbreakers who have fled the state.
	Asked about Cornyn's request and whether he wants the FBI to locate and arrest the Democrats who left Texas, Trump told reporters, well, I think they've abandoned the state.
	Nobody has seen anything like it, even though they've done it twice before.
	Heck of a statement there, Donald Trump.
	No one's seen anything like it except for the second, the other two times they've done it.
	And in a certain way, it almost looks like they've abandoned the state.
	It looks very bad.
	Yes, I agree.
	Let me just say this so we don't bury the lead.
	They have vacated their seats.
	That's it.
	Now, there's an argument that the governor may try and replace them.
	There's an AG decision that came from the last time they did this.
	I think it was like 2021.
	I'm going to say this and I ain't playing any games.
	And I'm going to go on a limb and say, I think most of you agree.
	Let me know.
	Comment below.
	If you agree, the moment they stated their intention was to break quorum, they have vacated their seats and their seats should be considered abandoned and they should be filled by whatever measure appropriate by law.
	That is temporary replacements by the governor, perhaps, if that's how it works, or emergency elections, if that's what it takes, perhaps.
	But they should do it immediately.
	The moment they left the state and said, we will not appear, you're done.
	You cooked.
	You left.
	You have vacated your seat.
	I don't know by what argument they're going to try and make that this is not vacating their seat.
	Now, we can play again.
	The governor can keep calling special sessions to push this through, and he should.
	And I think if there's a certain point that you should easily be able to get a judge to say, yeah, okay, there's nobody here to answer this call.
	If the governor calls a special session, you have to come.
	If you choose not to, you quit.
	Let me put it like this.
	What would you call it?
	Actually, we've had this happen here at Timcast.
	Someone just didn't show up anymore.
	It happens.
	A lot of people do that.
	And then after a certain amount of time, we say, you know, look, I know that we do unlimited vacation.
	Like, we're super chill.
	It's a company where if you don't want to be, you probably shouldn't be, right?
	At a certain point, we're like, they quit.
	We didn't fire them.
	They just stopped coming.
	And if you stop coming, you quit.
	Why is that any different?
	Now, I know they're going to play dirty games.
	They're going to play dirty games.
	Okay.
	In Texas, you're going to get these judges saying, no, no, it's a protest action.
	They did not quit.
	Play dirty games.
	We'll see what happens.
	But I got to tell you guys, the idea that Abbott would actually end up doing it, civil arrest warrants.
	Is this a joke?
	Civil arrest warrants.
	I don't think they're going to do anything to these Democrats.
	I don't think they're going to replace them.
	It's just, you know, I can respect Donald Trump calling on Texas to redistrict.
	That's the use of power we expect to see.
	You won an election.
	You have the right to do it.
	Do it.
	And they're going to say, but it's not normal.
	I don't care what's normal.
	It's within the law and we won an election.
	So do it.
	But I doubt they're actually going to do anything.
	They're going to moan.
	They're going to complain and it ain't going to change.
	Now, we saw this a few days ago.
	Governor Greg Abbott ordered the arrest of delinquent Texas House Democrats.
	It's a civil violation.
	They get arrested, they get brought back in, and that's the end of it.
	And then like, they're free to keep doing it.
	So I really don't expect anything substantive to come from this, but we will see.
	We will see.
	One thing they're saying over Politico is that Democrats could be fined nearly $400,000 for fleeing the state.
	What does that even mean?
	What does a fine mean?
	Okay.
	Under Texas House rules, each lawmaker is fined $500 per day for missing official business.
	Are you kidding?
	They're going to disappear for two years?
	Is that what the argument is?
	Two years will be gone.
	Up to $400,000.
	They say Texas Democrats stand to be fined nearly $400,000 for fleeing the state.
	Or do they mean all together?
	And should they stay away during potential successive legislative sessions this year, they face more than 3.2 million in penalties.
	Those figures, which Politico calculated based on the fewest lawmakers needed to break quorum, the anticipated length of their out-of-state trips and the $500 per day fine they're incurring reveal how much pain Democrats are willing to sustain in order to thwart Trump's push to remap Texas to create five more Republican seats it's the funny thing about this is and I know most of you probably know this they're gonna get rid of Jasmine Crockett's seat goodbye and she ain't gonna win again because it'll be a Republican leaning district under Texas House rules each lawmaker is fined 500
	per day for missing official business without permission to break quorum at least 51 Democrats must be absent they'll be charged a combined 25 500 per day on Monday 57 Democrats skipped session bringing the penalties to 28,500 although it was unclear how many absences were due to the gerrymandering protest should Democrats refuse to return for the length of the entire special set legislative session, which will end on August 19th, they could rack up fines totaling at least $382,000.
	And if Republican Governor Greg Abbott chooses to call additional special sessions, which he can, and Democrats choose to stay out of the state, it could exceed upwards of $3.2 million, which means nothing as it will be underwritten by powerful millionaires and billionaires.
	To be fair, the Democrats are very, very unpopular right now.
	Republicans, also unpopular, are substantially more popular, which is kind of funny.
	But the fleeing lawmakers said they were not deterred by the fines, nor by Abbott's threats to arrest them or vacate their offices.
	I'm not playing this game.
	You vacated your own office when you left.
	Where does it say you're allowed to intentionally break quorum?
	The rule about breaking quorum is to prevent a minority from pushing through bad policy in the event people can't come.
	So if they say, we're going to call everybody here, but we don't have a quorum, so we're not going to do it.
	That's like for emergencies.
	But what happens when they say, oh, okay, we'll exploit the law so that you can't actually function as a government for which you've won an election.
	Yeah, that's not the intention of the quorum rule.
	And everybody knows it.
	They're just exploiting our goodwill once, again, elections have consequences.
	Now, my friends, it is hard for me to say this.
	It is very difficult.
	It almost brings me physical pain to say, shout out to Stephen Colbert.
	I'm kidding, by the way.
	Shout out to Stephen Colbert, legitimately and literally.
	He confronted the Illinois governor on his crazy gerrymandered state.
	Many of these Texas Democrats who fled went to Illinois, where the governor made a statement about how if they're going to play dirty, then we're going to play dirty.
	Yeah, nice try, dude.
	Nobody plays dirtier than you.
	It is a mob-run, corrupt state where governors have gone to prison back-to-beck to back.
	Dude, when I was a teenager, we had three governors in prison because they're crooked.
	Or, you know, maybe not.
	Maybe they're in prison because the state is run by a corrupt cabal.
	And if whatever happened, the governors weren't playing ball right, you get locked up.
	That's the way it works.
	It was a tradition.
	Governors in Illinois go to prison because they're all scumbag corrupt.
	Well, I'll refrain from the insults.
	But let me play this clip for you, which I got to say, I'm kind of impressed.
stephen colbert ▲ ● ▼		You're hosting Texas Democratic lawmakers who fled their state after Republicans tried to redraw their congressional maps between the censuses.
		This is just a pure power grab here.
		How'd this come about?
		And what do you know about how this came about?
		And why did they come to Illinois?
jb pritzker ▲ ● ▼		Well, Donald Trump's trying to steal five seats from the people, frankly, of the country.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		Let's pause real quick.
		Steal.
		Listen, you broke quorum.
		It is an exploitation.
		Nobody voted for that.
		However, the rules clearly outline that they can do this.
		They can redistrict when they want and that people vote for this.
		That is not a theft.
		The argument actually is you are trying to steal five seats from the Republicans by fleeing and illicitly breaking quorum, which was never intended to be the case.
		You are taking an action for which you have had civil arrest warrants issued, and Donald Trump simply said, you won the election, do this thing.
		Now, you could argue it's dishonorable.
		This is not how we do politics in this country.
		Once a year we redistrict, but spare me on your theft, BS.
jb pritzker ▲ ● ▼		Just the people of Texas and disenfranchised people who are talking about, you know, violating the Voting Rights Act and the Constitution.
		So the great heroes of the Texas House Democratic Caucus decided the only thing they could do in order to stop it was leave Texas.
		And where did they decide to come to?
		The safe haven of the state of Illinois where we're going to protect them and take care of them.
		I'm very proud of it.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		There's a reason why I left Illinois.
stephen colbert ▲ ● ▼		I mean, yeah, sure.
		I'm not going to ask you where you have them stashed.
		Oh, no, but I assume.
		I assume you have them stashed around town, right?
		Yeah, yeah.
jb pritzker ▲ ● ▼		Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
jb pritzker ▲ ● ▼		We keep them, you know, the same place that Bush's VP was in.
stephen colbert ▲ ● ▼		So what happens now?
		A lot of governors out there are saying, well, they're going to increase the gerrymander of their states in order to counter what Texas has done.
		California has already said, well, what they're going to do, they're going to put a plan in place that'll wipe out half a dozen Republican seats, but it'll only be triggered if Texas goes through with their plan.
		It's kind of like, you know, a dead man switch or something like that.
		Can Illinois do something like that?
jb pritzker ▲ ● ▼		It's possible.
jb pritzker ▲ ● ▼		And I've said everything's on the.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		I'm going to pause real quick.
		And again, shout out to Colbert.
		They can't do that.
		Wait till you see them.
		I know many of you have seen the map, but I'm going to break it down for you because I've gone a little bit into this.
jb pritzker ▲ ● ▼		The table.
		I mean, we look, we got to fight fire with fire.
		They've, frankly, tossed the rule book out, and they're just acting in an unconstitutional fashion.
		And what we're going to have to do is whatever it takes to preserve democracy.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		So let me just try this again real quick.
		When Republicans win the election in Texas and under the law decide to hold a session that will redistrict, which is all legal, constitutional, and is completely abiding by the law and the nature of democracy.
		And then you break quorum, exploiting the rules to stop the duly elected government from carrying out the whims of their voters.
		I would argue that you are the one who's broken democracy, but sure, words.
stephen colbert ▲ ● ▼		If you are.
		If you're considering doing a little more redrawing in Illinois, you already have some crazy districts in Illinois.
		Take a look at this.
jb pritzker ▲ ● ▼		Look at this.
stephen colbert ▲ ● ▼		Look at 17 here.
		It does that.
		Then it comes up here and it sneaks around there and goes all the way up here and then goes right over there like that.
		And look at this one kind of goop up there.
		It's like the stinger on a scorpion down here.
		Is this common for all states to do?
jb pritzker ▲ ● ▼		Well, we handed it over to a kindergarten class and let them decide.
stephen colbert ▲ ● ▼		Okay, that's the not, that's the nonpartisan group that does this.
stephen colbert ▲ ● ▼		Absolutely.
jb pritzker ▲ ● ▼		That's our independent commission.
jb pritzker ▲ ● ▼		That is, yeah.
stephen colbert ▲ ● ▼		I mean, look, so because all states, to a certain extent, do this, why is what Texas doing particularly egregious in this case?
jb pritzker ▲ ● ▼		Well, here, every 10 years we do a census in this country, and right after the census, we redraw districts in every state.
jb pritzker ▲ ● ▼		But what the Republicans are trying to do, and the Texas Republicans, frankly, at the behest of Donald Trump, are doing it mid-decade.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		So what?
jb pritzker ▲ ● ▼		That is extraordinarily rare.
stephen colbert ▲ ● ▼		That's a good point because I think he literally called them or wrote them and said, hey, I need five seats.
stephen colbert ▲ ● ▼		Go redraw.
jb pritzker ▲ ● ▼		And the way they're doing it is taking voting rights away from black and brown people.
		They're literally obliterating districts that were written according to the Voting Rights Act.
		So this is going to end up in court if they actually are able to do it.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		Please.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		I love this statement they've kept putting out where they're like, he's going to eliminate majority minority districts.
unidentified		Wait, wait, wait, wait.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		What?
		Majority minority?
		What?
		Yeah, they don't know what to say when it's not a white majority.
		Majority minority.
		As if all races except for white are one race.
		It's a ridiculous statement.
		Let's play ball, baby.
		You want to talk about gerrymandering?
		I give you the Gerrymander Project from Princeton EDU.
		Now, to be fair, Princeton, take it for what you will.
		They give states scores based on their gerrymandering.
		They say if it's green, it's good.
		If it's yellow, it's better than average, but it's biased.
		C is average.
		And if it's red, it's bad.
		And then there's insufficient data on Alaska and Hawaii.
		I don't know.
		Could it be that Alaska has one district?
		Come on.
		And so does North Dakota.
		Partisan advantage?
		None.
		Take a look at Illinois.
		Illinois and Texas are both considered to be bad.
		But Texas in the House gets a C. And Illinois in the House gets a, I'm sorry, congressional score is actually an F. Because their Senate, I don't know, that's ridiculous.
		But let's just do this.
		Let's pull up the congressional map for Illinois.
		Oh boy, how fun.
		How fun.
		Take a look at this district, 15.
		as colbert shows wraps around i can't say that stupid things in the way and look how it wraps around are you are you kidding me district 13 someone someone said it's not a district it's a road trip that's true and guess what that weird oddly shaped district is democrat now here's what i really love about the corruption of illinois i've got this from politico this is the the uh 2024 election breakdown for illinois with kamala harris winning 54.8 percent to
		donald trumps 43.8 okay to be fair it's a democrat state and it always has been by the hard numbers fine take a look at these uh these jurisdictions hey wait a minute remember that weirdly shaped stretch of uh this district 13 which uh goes from st. Louis to Urbana take a look at this St. Louis to Urbana hey it runs two big cities through a
		stretch of rural area for the purpose of creating a fake Democrat majority Illinois now let's just do some math you want to be fair you want to be fair that's what I love about the Princeton thing saying in the House it gets a B actually their overall grade's an F all right fine they get an overall F. Let me tell you, my friends, if let's just do this math.
		If it is 54% Democrat and 43% Republican, and there are 17 seats, what math could we be looking at?
		Would say 10 Democrat seats to seven Republicans sound fair to you?
		Yeah, probably.
		I mean, it's 54 to 43, so the Democrats do have a slight edge in the majority.
		Maybe we could say, you know, nine to eight.
		You know, 10 to 7 seems fine.
		I'll give a little bit of weight to the Democrats.
		Hey, let's pull it up.
		Our good buddy ChatGPT's got the count for us.
		Here are the current 17 U.S. House congressional districts in Illinois, along with their incumbent representatives and party affiliation, based on a delegation as of the 119th Congress sworn in 2025.
		So 17.
		17.
		How many of them do you think are Republicans?
		Would you guess seven?
		You'd be wrong.
		It's three.
		Three.
		In a state that is 43%.
		We can round up and say 54% Democrat, 44% Republican.
		Almost half.
		I got no problem giving Democrats a slight edge by saying 10 to 7.
		But in a state that is nearly 50-50, they've drawn it up in such a way to give Republicans only three seats.
		You want to play a game?
		You cannot play that game, Pritzker.
		You cannot gerrymander beyond this.
		That is the extent to which they've been able to effectively rip off this country already with their gerrymandering.
		So when you come to me and say, but Texas is bad, I say, I don't care.
		They get an overall grade of an F from Princeton as well.
		I literally don't care.
		This is the name of the game.
	Elections have consequences.
	Okay?
	Take a look at beautiful West Virginia.
	Do you know these at-large states?
	There's no partisan advantage because West Virginia is like 80% Republican.
	And, well, to be fair, West Virginia is not at-large.
	They have three seats.
	But look at that.
	None.
	Partisan advantage, none.
	That's impressive for West Virginia.
	Look at that.
	West Virginia, best Virginia.
	California is graded at a B, congressional overall grade of a B. Now, California wants to play dirty, and they're going to carve the state up to eliminate, what did they say, 12 Republican districts?
	That means they're mostly going to eliminate the districts in LA, which lean to the right.
	I really doubt they're going to get rid of like the Tulare County stuff or I don't know, what is that?
	Bakersfield, no, Bakersfield's blue.
	To be fair, I don't even trust Princeton on this one.
	Let's zoom in on the surrounding LA area.
	They could absolutely gerrymander to eliminate these districts, which you've got District 45.
	But eliminating 12, do they even have that many congressional seats that are Republican?
	Because I got to be honest, it looks like I got one, two, three, four, five, six, seven.
	But they said upwards of 12.
	Let's do quick math on this one.
	How many Republicans in CA Congress in the CA federal Congress?
	They probably got a bunch because they have, what, 50 some odd seats?
	So they probably do.
	So there's 12.
	In California, the U.S. House of Representatives currently has 12 Republican members.
	So they're saying they would just quite literally eliminate all Republicans from the state.
	Bro, play that game.
	Come on.
	I don't care.
	I don't care.
	Play that game.
	It is stupid and it is silly.
	And that's what they're saying they're going to do.
	Democrats have drawn up plans to retaliate if Republicans gerrymander Texas, but they face legal hurdles.
	By all means, let it come down to the courts.
unidentified		Whatever.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		They're basically saying they're going to try and rip the system off the same as, you know, Republicans.
		But I'm going to say this.
		I'm going to say this.
		Let's play ball.
		I would argue Donald Trump should right now eliminate non-citizens from the census through executive order, whatever he's got to do, right when they try to do this, and then challenge it in court to void their redistricting based upon that fact.
		Because if they want to play ball, we can play ball today.
		The census is every 10 years.
		And don't give me, you know what, I can't stand more than anything.
		When people say things, but Tim, they can't do that because the courts.
		No, no, no.
		You can do whatever you want.
		We are human beings.
		We're not robots.
		Okay.
		Trump can do things.
		Democrats can do things.
		They do it now.
		You can't break quorum.
		They did.
		They've had war institutions for the rest.
		So what?
		Nothing's going to change.
		Obama can't go after Trump and accuse him of treason.
		He did.
		Will there be consequences?
		Most people don't think so.
		The reality is willpower is what matters.
		And all that it takes is Republicans decide to actually exercise their power.
		Democrats have been playing fast and loose and dirty forever, the same as Republicans.
		Don't get me started on Republicans.
		I don't like them either.
		The point is right now, when they're trying to play this game of Republicans are doing something unprecedented and wrong, it's like, bro, we all looked at Illinois.
		Okay, I grew up there.
		Spare me your lies, where you create a fake district to disenfranchise rural conservative voters so you can connect St. Louis with Urbana and then say, well, now it's a Democrat district.
		Yeah, because you connected two cities that otherwise would not have made a Democrat district.
		Spare me your lies.
		But you know what?
		Let me stress, my friends, far be it from me to tell Texas how to do what Texas needs to do.
		So we're going to be joined by a rep from the Texas House of Representatives.
		I believe we have lined up Briscoe K. Let me just double check to make sure with the crew.
		Briscoe Kane will be joining us.
		That's going to be at 4 p.m. at youtube.com/slash Timcast or rumble.com/slash Tim Pooling.
		You don't want to miss it because they're going to tell me what for.
		Far be it for me to tell Texas how to live their lives, right?
		I live in West Virginia, Best Virginia, and we don't have these problems for the most part.
		So my friends, smash that like button.
		Share the show with everyone you know if you do like it.
		You can follow me, of course, on X and Instagram at Timcast.
		This next segment will be coming up.
		But other than that, we'll see you at 8 p.m. for Timcast IRL.
		Thanks for hanging out.
		And we will see you all in the next segment.
		For everybody else, let's get ready.
		We have this story from The Guardian.
		Texas Senator asks FBI to help locate and arrest Democrats for leaving the state.
		John Cornyn ramps up gerrymandering showdown between lawmakers and Trump administration seeking GOP seats.
		You got to hand it to Texas.
		They tend to be the ones getting the ball rolling.
		You got Ken Paxton.
		You got Abbott.
		They're doing all right.
		Now, many people have complained about the actions Abbott has taken in the past, saying that he's largely still just helping Democrats.
		Maybe.
		But it does seem like on cultural issues, we got Missouri and we got Texas.
	Now, right now, the battle is raging on.
	Donald Trump has said maybe the FBI does need to get involved when asked about John Cornyn's call.
	Send in the feds to force these people back.
	But this is a state issue.
	It is a state issue.
	Now, the question is, do these Democrats who have fled Texas have the right to break quorum?
	For those that miss the story, the quick gist is this.
	The Republicans want to redistrict.
	Such a new redistricting could swing the state or could swing the Congress for Republicans by five seats.
	The new map would eliminate certain Democrat seats and create weight for Republicans in those districts.
	This would give Trump a massive advantage.
	The story is that Trump personally called and said, do the redistricting now.
	I need those seats for 2026.
	Democrats have said this is unconstitutional and that you're breaking the rules.
	It's not unconstitutional.
	It's not violating the law.
	It's just untoward.
	It is extremely rare that a redistricting happens mid-census.
	Like we're between two censuses.
	Sensi, whatever.
	And so they're saying it's unjust.
	Well, let's do this.
	I am going to bring in a rep from Texas, Briscoe Kane, who's going to break down for us exactly what's going on and the rules and their plans.
	Let me load this interview right now and get that show going.
unidentified		All right.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		Here we go.
		Loading it up.
		Looks like we are good.
		Let's hit it.
		All right.
		It looks like good, sir.
		Can you hear me?
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		I can't.
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		How's it going, Tim?
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		It's going pretty well.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		So you're a rep in the Texas House?
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		I am.
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		Yes, sir.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		Do you want to just give a quick introduction to who you are and your district and what you do?
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		Yeah, I've served five terms in the Texas House.
		I'm the chairman of the Texas House Freedom Caucus and represent a lot of the Port of Houston, which some people may not be familiar with, but that's, we produce, I don't know, close to 90% of the jet fuel for the country.
		It's considered the largest manufacturing complex on earth.
unidentified		Wow.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		So all right, let me just jump straight to it.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		Should these Democrats who have fled your state be arrested for breaking quorum and fleeing?
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		Yeah, absolutely.
		Sooner than later, I'm a little irritated at leadership kind of dragging their feet, not doing it yet, right?
		They've given them till Friday.
		It's nonsense.
		Arrest them, bring them in.
		Because we only need six, Tim.
		You need six.
		Yeah, we just need six more.
		We have 88 Republicans.
		So we need 12 Democrats.
		Six are here.
		And, you know, we discussed that, right?
		I don't know if you'll, it may help the audience to understand that we're one of four states.
		There were originally more than that that have a two-thirds quorum requirement.
		That's two-thirds of the elected, right?
		So we have to have 100 to do business, you know.
		And it needs the Constitution needs to be amended, but to do so, we need 100.
		And the odds of any Democrats ever voting with us to do that is pretty low.
		But the purpose, the historical purpose of it, right, was our days of horseback and walking.
		And so if some state legislature was going to convene on a certain day, obviously you had to kind of wait.
		You couldn't plan your trip.
		You needed like seven, eight days to the Capitol or something like that.
		Those days are gone.
		And I wish we would have listened to Madison, or at least it's said that Madison wrote, I believe it's Federalist 58, actually, where he points out like, this is a bad idea.
		It will cause this folly.
		It will allow the minority to take over.
		Right.
		And it was a bit of an oversight because if you take it to its extreme, does that mean they could just literally not show up on day one of a session and kill two years?
		Is the only thing is for them to face voters?
		Is that the only punishment?
		Of course not.
		That's ludicrous to think so.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		Let me ask you, there were civil arrest warrants that were issued.
		And so it's a confusing thing because how could you arrest someone on a civil violation?
		Are there any long-term penalties beyond fines for these civil arrest warrants?
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		Yeah, certainly.
		And there could be.
		So there's civil because, right, the Speaker of the House is not like a criminal magistrate, but they're legitimate arrest warrants.
		And it goes through the sergeant-at-arms.
		And then thankfully, the governor is tasked GPS with assisting.
		And that includes the Texas Rangers.
		And sadly, though, the Speaker kind of gave them till Friday.
		Look, I know of three that are in Houston right now that never left.
		Now, granted, it might look bad.
		These are some of our older folks.
		And the Ds could probably make a heyday off of claiming that you arrested grandma, but grandma's not doing her job.
		And she should have none of the benefits of seniority or your extra money.
		We need to go after all of it.
		There's also things that look like bribery.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		Yeah, it does.
		I mean, my understanding is that some of these members have been fundraising.
		There have been efforts to raise money on their behalf for this effort.
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		Exactly, man.
		I don't know if you want to.
		I can read you the statute if you're interested.
unidentified		I know.
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		Yeah, yeah, we're going to have to.
		It's section 3602 of the Texas Penal Code.
		It says, person commits an offense if he intentionally or knowingly offers, confers, or agrees to confer on another or solicits, accepts or agrees to accept from another person any benefit as consideration for the recipient's decision, opinion, recommendation, vote, or other exercise of discretion as a public servant, party official, or voter.
unidentified		Some of this sounds like it might be might be on point, man.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		So, so has there been fundraising efforts from these Democrats in this area?
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		Yeah, certainly so.
		In fact, I think recently Jasmine Crockett kind of got caught mentioning doing exactly that, not just fundraising, but helping to fund their lifestyle, to fund them there.
		They funded the private jet to help them leave, right, in exchange for their discretion not to be there.
		They got on private jets.
		And so that has to be reported.
		I can't fly on a private jet without having to report that on my ethics expenditure.
		Okay.
		These are serious problems.
		And the fines, the fines are cool.
		I mean, we get paid a handsome $700 a month for it.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		I'm not for a private job.
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		It's $500 a day plus the cost of having to go get them.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		Wow.
		So this is the weird thing to me.
		Any job on the planet, if you are called in by your boss for what is part of your job, part of your contract, and you go, nah, I'm hopping a private jet and leaving and I won't be back.
		That's called quitting.
		So how is it that they have not vacated their seat by their own admission by saying we will not be present?
		I mean, they've publicly admitted this is what they're doing and why.
		Shouldn't that be statement enough to say we have vacated our seats?
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		Yeah, I think so.
		Of course, it's going to be left to the courts.
		And they're going to have to struggle with where's the line, right?
		We gave an extreme example earlier, like you could not show up for two years and literally prevent the legislature from doing anything.
		Well, that'd be weird if the only repercussion was the voters.
		It doesn't make sense.
		So where is it?
		Do you have to express some intent to return?
		Right now, they've expressed no present intent to come back, right?
		If you're like, hey, I'll be back in a few days.
		You go, okay, they haven't abandoned it.
		Right now, they're like, we're never coming back.
		Screw you guys.
		It sounds like abandonment, right?
		And so not only should they face repercussions from the voters at the ballot box, which the past two times, which is 2004, they broke Quorum.
		They ran off to Oklahoma and New Mexico.
		That was a redistricting year.
		When we came back, the Republican majority grew.
		After 2021, when they broke Quorum, they went off to D.C. They were then nicknamed the Miller Ds.
		That's because they had a 24-pack of Miller Light there on the bus with them when they were leaving.
		And I remember this one well.
		That was actually my bill.
		I was the chairman of elections, and that was my bill when they walked off the floor that day.
		We grew the Republican majority after that as well.
		And some of them lost their seats, and we still did it anyways.
		And I think this time it's going to be even worse.
		Anybody that's paying attention to Texas politics may know that our speaker was elected with a majority of the minority party.
		And so there's been a coalition speakership.
		And what they're doing now, I believe, is actually uniting the moderates and the conservatives in the House against them.
		And I think they've committed political suicide.
		They don't realize it because no longer, for a while, it was theory rumored that in order for them to say, you know, the speakers may be offering things, right?
		Taking certain things off the table.
		Well, now they broke that.
		I mean, there's literally no reason for leadership to give them absolutely anything.
		We should shove it all down their throat when we get them back.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		So on this bribery point, do you believe, based on what you've seen so far, that there should be criminal charges for bribery?
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		There should at least be a grand jury investigation.
		Seems reasonable.
		I can't speak to whether they've definitely done it.
		It's not my area of law.
		I mean, the plain reading of it kind of smells bad and looks wrong, and someone needs to investigate it.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		Yeah, yeah, especially.
		Well, let me ask you now about the redistricting effort itself.
		The argument that's being made by Democrats, you know, Governor J.Britzker went on, Colbert, and said, Trump called Texas and said, I need five seats.
		It is exceedingly rare to have a redistricting in the middle of a decade before the census comes in, and that this violates the Voting Rights Act and the Constitution.
		So the first question is, why are you guys redistricting right now?
		And, you know, what do you have to say about Pritzker's comments?
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		Yeah.
		Well, Pritzker is, of course, talking at his rear end, trying to claim this violates the Constitution.
		Those things are left to the states, as you may know, and it's perfectly fine for us to do so.
		In fact, there's a case out of Galveston, Galveston County, that's the island down here on our coast, that allowed them to do a similar thing based on their redistricting.
		And so for some time now, we realized we could do that and it was an opportunity.
		But also, the states change, not just because of the open border policies, but somewhat our good policies.
		We're attracting people from those states and they're fleeing.
		And so to adjust for those demographics and that change, it would only make sense that we adjust our seats because we have our one man, one vote rule.
		And through an interpretation of some federal case law, the seats must be almost perfectly identical.
		We're meaning 766,987 people, plus one or minus one, right?
		So you've got to get perfect.
		And obviously, there needed to be an adjustment over the last five years from the 13 plus million illegals who've come because it's not based on voters.
		It's based on population.
		At least that's the current interpretation of things.
		And look, I think we're here to correct unconstitutional gerrymandering and to correct those things to ensure fair representation.
		That's the idea.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		But what triggered this?
		Was it really Donald Trump calling and saying, what can we do in Texas?
		Or is this something that you guys have been planning?
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		I can't answer that.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		Because you don't know.
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		This is going to be heavily, heavily litigated.
		I can just say that I've been talking about it for over a year with some other folks, that we were allowed to, at least, because of this Galveston County case.
		Now, it doesn't mean they did it in response to me, but people were aware of the opportunity.
		Absolutely.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		So what do you mean by opportunity?
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		That sounds like it's political.
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		Yeah.
		Opportunity to fix wrongs.
		It's an opportunity to fix wrongs, right?
		It's to fix racial gerrymandering.
		It's to fix the VRA and the requirements of it.
		Really, when you get to the heart of it, it's racist.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		So explain that.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		What is that?
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		Yeah.
		I remember redistricting in 2021 when I was first running for state rep. There's a Freedman's town, an old Freedman's town in my district, or actually it's not in my district.
		It's carved out.
		You're going up the line.
		All of a sudden, this box comes over and it goes up.
		And I remember being really excited that I could go and talk with these people.
		And then I realized they're not in the district.
		And I remember going, well, that looks like racial gerrymandering.
		They're carved out.
		Why?
		Federal law required them to be with their own people.
unidentified		Wow.
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		It would have been illegal to put them in my district.
		And that's offensive.
		But that's what the VRA was requiring, Right.
		And so this is an opportunity to correct some of those wrongs to allow for fair representation and to allow people to have, they call them communities of interest.
		Well, why not communities?
		Why not entire cities as opposed to some this special class?
		It doesn't make sense.
		So yeah, that's that's what I think I mean.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		And is it is that something that, you know, I don't know if you would know this because you're in Texas, but is that affecting all states because it's a federal law?
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		You'll quote me on this one.
		There are still some states generally in the South that are under certain kind of what they call pre-clearance rules and stuff.
		And I'm not an expert on that, but it applies to some of us and not others.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		It was funny because I've been hearing a lot of statements from Democrats where they keep saying majority minority districts.
		And I'm thinking, what does that mean?
		It's like they're acting like there are two races, white and not white.
		So you say majority, what was it, majority, minority?
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		Yeah, or you'll hear the word minority coalition as if they own all people who aren't the same.
		Right.
		And you hear it in their interviews.
		They're like black and brown.
unidentified		Like, it's so terrible.
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		And I know, thank God, at least our generation or at least people with moral clarity or intellectual honesty recognize that that's nonsense and it does nothing but harm and divide.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		Yeah, so I mean, what are people in these areas saying that what I've heard is that there are districts that are Hispanic that voted for Trump, voted for Republicans, but are being forced through this racial gerrymandering to be in districts where they'll never have their voices heard and it's going to go Democrat.
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		Yeah, bingo.
		I can think of a House district next to me.
		It's House District 144.
		Sadly, Republicans failed to put a candidate on the ballot and Trump won it, like 53%.
unidentified		Wow.
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		It's a vastly majority Hispanic area.
unidentified		Wow.
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		And he's still winning because conservativism speaks to them, right?
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		Through their opportunities and family values and just wanting government to get out of their lives.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		But you guys didn't have a report.
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		That's why it's a winning message.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		You guys didn't have a candidate for the House on the ballot in that district?
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		No.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		So it just defaults Democrat?
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		Yeah.
		And that's what they're complaining about.
		One of those seats, that seat would now be in what was Congressional District 9, at least proposed.
		That's why Al Green is freaking out, realizing he's about to be out of Congress.
		And that area that's currently represented by a Democrat state rep, the numbers say that's not it.
		You don't own those people.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		I mean, Al Green shouldn't be in Congress as far as I'm concerned.
		When he wiggled his cane screaming at Trump during the State of the Union, the House tried to censure him, and Democrats swelled up in the well singing songs, obstructing the censure of this guy.
		And it was only a censure.
		It is remarkable to me that over the past decade plus, Democrats have repeatedly across this country, either at the state level or federal level, even city level, violated the law, broken the rules, but then act like it's an affront to them when Republicans say, oh, hey, look, this is legal and we can do this.
		They then accuse you of breaking the law.
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		That's right.
		I've seen you've been covering that, right?
		Showing the maps and things.
		You know, it's funny the states they flew off to.
		They're probably all around.
		You went to Boston, Massachusetts, zero Republican congressional seats, even though I think Republicans perform 40% there.
unidentified		Wow.
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		And they went to Illinois.
		Look at those.
		Republicans perform better there on the presidential election, but they gerrymandered the heck out of those things.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		Illinois is 44% Republican as a state with three of 17 seats being Republican.
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		Bingo, you get it.
		And when you look at our proposed map, they're much more concentrated.
		You don't see these crazy spider-leg things.
		And I don't mind you, they're going to look weird, right?
		As I just mentioned, based on the population requirements that they be equal, people don't live in equal little squares, right?
		So you're going to have drawings that look funny, just FYI.
		I know every time somebody thinks something doesn't look like a square, it must be quote unquote gerrymandering.
		But that's a legal term.
		Gerrymandering is illegal.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		I think we covered this back in 21 or whenever the last redistricting was, because there was one district, I can't remember where it was.
		I think it's like in the Houston area or something.
		And it's like a weird U shape.
		And a lot of people were saying that's gerrymandering and gerrymandering is bad.
		But when you actually broke it down, it's because some of the areas that are covered, nobody lives in and has nothing to do with that community.
		So people assume that because the maps are drawn weird shapes, it means gerrymandering.
		No, gerrymandering is Illinois.
		East St. Louis stretches in this long strip up to Urbana for the express purpose of combining two liberal cities and then everything in between, which is rural, has no voice.
		And so these people in Texas, these Texas Dems, they fly there.
		And Pritzker had the nerve to go on Colbert and say, one, as a joke, it was drawn up by kindergartners as if to downplay the fact that they've intentionally stolen seats of Republicans.
		But then he has the nerve to say, we will gerrymander more.
		Here's the funny thing.
		They can't.
		They literally could not do more than they've already done in a bunch of these states.
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		They could squeeze nothing left out.
		Yeah.
		That's amazing.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		Blood from a turnip.
		So do you think Abbott is prepared to call more sessions over and over and over again to get this job done?
		Or do you think Democrats might win this one?
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		No, absolutely.
		They're not going to win this one.
		And they lose every time afterwards.
		And I'm thankful for the governor standing up for the fight and being creative.
		You know, filing his petition to have the Supreme Court declare Gene Wu's seat vacant.
		Gene Wu's a Democrat from Houston.
		He's actually the chairman of the House Democrat caucus.
		And, you know, will it work?
unidentified		I don't know.
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		So it's kind of like how Trump just is like, I got an idea.
		Let's go for it.
		You know, give it your best shot.
		Don't just always count it out.
		And so that's a good thing.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		He did declare that vacant?
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		Well, he's filed a writ with the Texas Supreme Court seeking it to be declared vacant.
		And the Attorney General has also a few hours later filed a case.
		And that was yesterday.
		Let's go.
		How do you think?
		The argument is you've abandoned your seat.
		It's like if you didn't give a letter of resignation when you left a job, you didn't show up, show up to work for a week and no call, no show.
		They're kind of like, I think that guy quit.
		That's these circumstances, right?
		It's like, I have a feeling they quit.
		They're not planning to come back.
		I think we should go ahead and declare their seat vacant, order a special election, which, by the way, can be a great opportunity for Republicans to maybe flip some seats for a little bit.
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		Where do you think the Supreme Court of Texas leans?
tim pool ▲ ● ▼		You think they're going to go Republican or what?
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		I don't know what they'll do.
unidentified		I hope they will, I hope they'll follow the law.
briscoe cain ▲ ● ▼		Of course, I would like for them to side with me politically, but not at the expense of the integrity of the institution.
		That's far more important, right?
		That's the thing that I think separates us from the left is that process matters, that law matters, that we still have that moral high ground.
		But I'm hopeful.
		And I'm actually in talks with a few of my colleagues on whether we're going to do some amicus letters and things advocating for it or explaining kind of the reasons, especially some of the historical context of why that quorum requirement's there because the democrats are arguing like this is a legitimate procedure it's not legitimate at all it's pure obstructionism i'm i'm i'm sick of the politicking across the board across the country with the the the purpose of the quorum you already you already mentioned it but back in the day when you're walking the idea was hey

▲