Texas Lawmakers React Along Party Lines To The Mueller Report

This week in Texas politics with the Texas Tribune

By Rhonda FanningApril 19, 2019 2:24 pm,

Corrie MacLaggan, managing editor at the Texas Tribune, takes a look at the week that was in Texas politics.

On Texas reaction to the Mueller report:

Our reporter Abby Livingston pointed out that it was almost as if Texas Republicans in Congress read an entirely different report than Democrats. Republicans said it proved there wasn’t any obstruction, Democrats said Congress should launch its own inquiry into the Trump campaign. Democratic Congressman Joaquin Castro said the report was, “a damning portrait of an unethical president,” and meanwhile Republican Congressman Roger Williams said the report “confirms that the defamation campaign against the president was unfounded and baseless.”

On Pierce Bush’s potential run for Congress:

He’s a grandson of late President George H.W. Bush and the son of Neil Bush. He is thinking of running for Congress in Congressional District 7, which is in the Houston area. This is actually the seat that was held by his grandfather, George H.W. Bush. He says a lot of people are encouraging him to run, but right now he’s still looking at it. He’s CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters Lone Star and he says he’s focused on that right now. He did say if he were to run he’d be a big tent candidate.

On Joaquin Castro’s uncertain Senate run:

Congressman Castro has been thinking of running against Cornyn in 2020… As recently as March, his allies were telling everyone that he was very likely to challenge Cornyn, and now people close to him just aren’t saying quite as much about it, and he’s not doing the things that a candidate for Senate would normally be doing at this point, like raising a lot of money. He raised $36,000 last quarter… At this point two years ago, Kyrsten Sinema from Arizona, who was then in the House, had already raised $678,000, which she transferred to her Senate campaign and she’s now a senator.

On a Bloomberg report about Rick Perry’s plans:

Bloomberg had this story citing anonymous sources that said Energy Secretary Rick Perry was planning to leave the Trump administration, but not immediately. But a spokeswoman for the Energy Department said there’s no truth to that, that he’s happy where he is at Energy.