Dallas Morning News – by Todd J. Gillman
WASHINGTON — There’s a Texas state senator with a new target on his back, courtesy of President Donald Trump and the Rockwall County sheriff.
At a meeting Tuesday with sheriffs from around the country, Sheriff Harold Eavenson complained about a state senator who wanted to make it harder for law enforcement to get control of assets forfeited by drug traffickers.
“I want to hear his name. We’ll destroy his career,” Trump offered.
The sheriff shrugged and declined to offer a name during a meeting in the Roosevelt Room at the White House, where Trump met with about a dozen sheriffs. Reached later by cellphone, Eavenson again declined to identify the lawmaker. He said he didn’t take the president’s offer to destroy the senator literally.
“He was just being emphatic that he did not agree with that senator’s position,” Eavenson said, adding of the senator in question, “I’m not into assassinating his character.”
Eavenson will become president of the National Sheriff’s Association in June. He has been active in the Sheriff’s Association of Texas.
The object of ire big enough to mention to the president wasn’t immediately clear. Eavenson referred to “him” several times and confirmed that it’s a male senator. Speculation quickly swirled in Austin.
During the meeting, Trump went around the room asking the sheriffs to air top concerns.
“There’s a state senator in Texas that was talking about legislation to require conviction before we could receive that forfeiture money,” Eavenson told the president.
“Do you believe that?” Trump said.
“And I told him that the cartel would build a monument to him in Mexico if he could get that legislation passed,” Eavenson said.
“Who is that state senator? I want to hear his name. We’ll destroy his career,” Trump said, prompting laughter.
Two Texas senators have offered legislation this year to require conviction before someone’s assets could be seized. Sen. Konni Burton, a Republican who often pushes civil-liberties legislation to protect personal information and property, was a fierce critic of Trump during the campaign. She and Sen. Juan “Chuy” Hinojosa, a McAllen Democrat, have formed an unlikely team pushing this asset forfeiture legislation.
Hinojosa said he didn’t believe he was the target of Eavenson’s comments. But he said he wasn’t concerned about Trump’s promise to wreak havoc on a senator’s career.
“I don’t know the sheriff,” Hinojosa said. “Quite frankly, I don’t pay much attention to what Trump says anymore.”
Several other senators have also supported this change in the past, including two civil-libertarian Republicans: Bob Hall, whose district includes Rockwall County, and Don Huffines of Dallas. Aides to Burton, Hall and Huffines could not immediately be reached for comment.
*** Two Texas senators have offered legislation this year to require conviction before someone’s assets could be seized. ***
That’s nice and all, but there already is such a law on the books: the Fifth Amendment. All that’s needed is for it and the rest of the Bill of Rights to be ENFORCED.
“I’m not into assassinating his character.”
Yet you have no problem killing innocent Americans.
POS scumbag!