O’Rourke slams lawsuit accusing him of “Beto Bribes” to Texas Democrats

But we begin this hour with Texas Republicans turning up the pressure on Democratic legislators who left the state to stop the redistricting scheme. Republicans have unleashed a wave of legal action aimed at forcing them back. In the last 48 hours alone, they've launched lawsuits to strip them of their seats, introduced motions to have law enforcement track them down, and even accused former Congressman Beto O'Rourke of, quote, bribing lawmakers to break quorum by raising money for their travel expenses and legal defense. A district judge has temporarily sided with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, blocking O'Rourke from providing financial support to the Texas Democrats. But in remarks last night, O'Rourke says he's not backing down. I was sued by Ken Paxton not once but twice this week. He tried, he tried to stop us from holding this rally here today in Fort Worth. He tried to stop us from raising money to support these Democrats in the fight. He lost. And one of the worst things that we could do to Ken Paxton is to right now choose to donate, to have the backs of these fighters, and we are not going to let him stop us. Are you with me on that? And joining us now is the man you just heard, the founder of the organization Powered by People, former Texas Congressman Beto O'Rourke. Congressman, thank you for coming to the weekend. So you had what you said, what you said there about about Paxton. I want to read you what he wrote in a post. He wrote, I just defeated Beto O'Rourke in court. We secured a major victory, stopping runaway Democrats from taking Beto bribes and preventing deceptive fundraising. They told me to come and take it. So I did. Congressman, I don't think I need to ask the question. Just your response. Yeah, you know, he wanted to stop us from speaking. He wanted to stop us from rallying people to the defense of these brave Texas Democrats. And he wanted to stop us from raising money. We are doing all three. You know, what strikes me about what's going on in this country right now is all of these powerful, wealthy people and institutions, the big law firms, the Ivy League universities, the tech moguls like Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg and Tim Cook obsequiously giving Donald Trump a gold-plated iPhone. They're all bending the knee. And it appeared almost inevitable, I think, to many in the country and probably to Donald Trump that anyone in his way would do the same. And I think that's what motivated him to try to come to Texas and steal five congressional districts in the states that he could hold on to power in the House of Representatives. But I don't think he counted on the fact that in Texas, our knees don't bend. We're not giving in. We're not giving up. We're not going to go away. We're going to fight these people. We're going to fight them until we win. It's those 54 Democrats who broke quorum, left the state and stopped them from redistricting. It's tens of thousands more who are having their backs by donating to support them. And it's everyone who's organizing right now so that we win political power in 2026 and stop this guy from producing the slide into authoritarianism that is our future and our fate unless we do everything we can with what we've got right now. Even with this temporary restraining order that is from the judge, you guys are still fundraising. You obviously held that rally. But I'm also curious, what are the other types of things we should be doing? Bless you, honey. What are the other types of things that you guys could be doing? Because, you know, with the Democrats, the House Democrats leaving the state, that means there could be a vacuum within the state of people who are only hearing from people who are only hearing from the Governor Abbott about these things and missing the stories that you're telling here on our network. So are you guys doing, going to, you know, red parts of the state, knocking on doors and letting people know the truth? Absolutely. So we had thousands with us last night in Fort Worth, Tarrant County, often referred to as the last reliably red urban county in America. Not going to be very red for very much longer. But later today, actually, after I finish speaking with you, Eugene and Jonathan, I am going to Abilene, Texas. I think that's a county, Taylor County, that voted for Donald Trump 72 or 73 percent in the last election. But we're not writing them off. We're going to show up there. Hundreds have already RSVP'd for the event. But we're also going to other parts of the country to make the case and remind everybody we're in this together. In Oklahoma City, three nights ago, 1,500 people came out, 15 months before an election. Similar crowds in Omaha, in Kansas City, in Indianapolis, in Milwaukee. We were in Louisiana just two nights ago. I mean, we're going everywhere and bringing everyone together so that we are united in this fight. Our unity is our greatest leverage, our greatest strength. And we've got to use it against these guys before they steal this country. Congressman, the lieutenant governor of Texas said something on Tuesday, so almost a week ago, but it is so breathtaking and outrageous that I want to play it for you and get your reaction on the other side. Whatever it takes, Sean, whatever it takes, we're going to get it done. There's nothing they can do to stop us. And I challenge them, come back and do the right thing. Don't run and hide because you've lost touch with the voters. Their problem are not redistricting lines. Their problem, Sean, is they've lost the minds of their voters who are moving towards the Republican Party all over the country. We're a red state. We deserve more representation. Congressman, quote, we're a red state. We deserve more representation. This is what I found outrageous. Yeah, absolutely. And I just think it's super clear that Republicans care about power and nothing else. And for far too long, Democrats have cared about being right, coloring within the lines, following rules. And power has always been a secondary consideration. We need to absolutely flip that around and focus on power exclusively. It's why I'm encouraged by what I'm hearing by Governor Newsom in California, Governor Pritzker in Illinois, even Governor Hochul in New York. They're talking about seizing the initiative and redrawing their congressional boundaries to maximize Democratic Party advantage. We've got to fight fire with fire. I mean, we wish the refs were going to call the fouls, that there were going to be penalties for what they are doing right now. But the refs have left the arena. Or corrupted. And to fight this out and to win. We've got to be focused on it. Congressman, but do you have, going off of what you just said, do you have any concerns? Because I've talked to folks, especially folks that have been in the redistricting space, who have tried to democratize redistricting with independent redistricting efforts around the country. Democrats are the only ones that have been actually doing that in different states. That's why their hands are tied behind their backs in some places. But do you have any concerns about lawmakers being able to choose their voters? Because that is essentially what gerrymandering is, right? With these weirdly shaped spaces and people choosing their voters instead of the other way around. Absolutely. No one likes it. And I think that is what motivated Democrats in states like California to adopt these independent citizen-led redistricting commissions, which is a great idea if it is applied to every state at the same time. Effectively, though, what California did was to unilaterally disarm in the face of Texas being free to gerrymander their congressional districts, as they are attempting to do right now, to steal five congressional seats in our state. Because just to remind everybody why this is happening, Donald Trump's policies, the cuts to Medicaid, the terrorizing our fellow Americans with these Gestapo tactics, the massive transfers of wealth from working people to the richest 1%, deeply unpopular stuff. There's no way he holds on to the House of Representatives unless he can rig the game now in the summer of 2025 to try to steal the election in 2026. So, Eugene, I do think it's incumbent upon Democrats to stop this, to win power, and then once in power, to apply this idea of getting politicians out of the room when there's redistricting, to return that power to the people, but to do it comprehensively across the country and not selectively just in blue states. Congressman, we have less than a minute left, but you were talking about Democrats fighting back against the redistricting efforts. How else should Democrats be fighting back? Because there are a lot of fronts in this battle to, you know, withstand autocracy and to save our democracy. Should Democrats be doing more? Absolutely. You know, in 2024, we bore witness to the Democratic Party nationally spending more than a billion dollars in seven states, each of which we lost. I'm going to the other 43 right now to remind us all that we need to fight these folks on every single front, to your point, Jonathan. So, in Omaha, where we were just a few nights ago, that's the seat Don Bacon is retiring from. We can win that seat. In Oklahoma City, where we were the night after that, we can win that seat. We could pick up seats even in Louisiana, in Missouri, in Kansas. We've got to be a 50-state party or we will not be a national threat. And so we've got to show up everywhere for everyone, write nobody off and take no one for granted. And we've got to organize now in 2025 to win power in 2026.