The end of the week brought a much-publicized pair of arrests of Iraqi-born Palestinian refugees who were charged with terror-related crimes (both, in different manners, are accused of attempting to provide material support for ISIS). It was hard to miss the news, of course, given the high profile that both terrorism and the refugee crisis have had over the past several months.
What you may well have missed, however, was this:
Two Texas politicians made public details of an investigation into a terrorism suspect while it was still in progress, potentially jeopardizing the inquiry, three sources familiar with the matter said on Friday.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick released details from documents that were still under court seal, the sources said.
“Potentially jeopardizing the inquiry.” Remember that the next time that someone tells you that you must support the Republicans because they are the only ones that can keep you safe from terrorism.
As the governor of the state where one of the two suspects was under investigation, it seems likely that Abbott (along with Lt. Gov. Patrick, both of whom were elected in 2014) would be kept in the loop on developments. The Texas suspect, Houston’s Omar Faraj Saeed Al Hardan, was arrested Thursday. But the investigation, according to a report by Mark Hosenball and Julia Harte of Reuters, was still in progress. Witnesses were still being interviewed, meaning that important evidence was still being collected.
And it was roughly then, according to the report, that Abbott and Patrick prematurely released statements about the arrest.
What was their motivation for rushing out statements? Well, it appears that they wanted to be the first to use this arrest to take a swipe at President Obama about the Syrian refugee crisis. Consider this key sentence in the Abbott statement:
"This is precisely why I called for a halt to refugees entering the U.S. from countries substantially controlled by terrorists (...) I once again urge the president to halt the resettlement of these refugees in the United States until there is an effective vetting process that will ensure refugees do not compromise the safety of Americans and Texans."
Patrick’s statement went one step further, pointedly saying that the arrest was “why we do not want refugees coming to Texas.”
The Reuters report states that the twin statements from Abbott and Patrick “forced federal authorities to wrap up their inquiries and rush out public statements and court papers on the case earlier than planned.”
One can only hope that needed information from potential colleagues and witnesses isn’t left uncovered because the authorities charged with investigating the case had to close up shop quickly because two Republican politicians went public with the investigation and arrest, and all in the name of trying to extract a little partisan political blood.