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Texas Governor
Greg Abbott and Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick released details
from documents that were still under court seal, the sources
said. A spokesman for Governor Abbott had no immediate comment.
Patrick's office was not available for comment.
The suspect, Omar Faraj Saeed Al-Hardan, 24, appeared in court
on Friday accused of providing material support to Islamic State
overseas. He entered the United States as an Iraqi refugee in
November 2009 and lived in Houston, according to a court
document.
Abbott and Patrick are both Republicans and their party has been
fiercely resisting Democratic President Barack Obama's plan to
allow 10,000 Syrian refugees into the country over the next
year, arguing that they pose a security risk to the United
States. The Obama administration has rejected that assertion.
One of the sources said investigators believe Abbott and Patrick
may have learned confidential details of the investigation from
the Joint Terrorism Task Force in Texas. The group's members
include local and state law enforcement officers. There was no
immediate comment from the task force.
The sources said the politicians' statements on Thursday night
disclosing a terrorism suspect's arrest forced federal
authorities to wrap up their inquiries and rush out public
statements and court papers on the case earlier than planned.
Hardan was already in custody at the time, but interviews of
potential witnesses were still being conducted when the
disclosures were made, the sources.
The U.S. Justice Department also unveiled federal charges
against another Iraqi refugee on Thursday, accusing Sacramento
resident Aws Mohammed Younis al-Jayab of traveling overseas to
fight alongside terrorist organizations and lying to U.S.
authorities about it.
(Reporting by Mark Hosenball and Julia Harte; Editing by Kevin
Drawbaugh, James Dalgleish and Ross Colvin)
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