To some men, a securities fraud indictment would be a reason to depart public service and to exit public life.
But the now-impeached Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton (R), is built differently — made of material that, until this week, has allowed him to allegedly take actions and endure a series of scandals that would have made most wither.
After his 2015 indictment, Paxton stayed in office, delaying the trial and allegedly continuing to commit crimes, which then led to a whistleblower lawsuit. To settle that case and avoid an embarrassing trial, Paxton asked the Texas legislature to fund a $3.3 million settlement between himself and a set of whistleblowers who had once worked in his office and alleged they had been retaliated against.
Instead of approving the payout, state House Republicans with the legislature's General Investigating Committee probed the allegations. That set the ball rolling on a series of events that led to yesterday's overwhelming vote by the state House to impeach him over allegations of bribery, unfitness for office and abuse of public trust. Whether he is permanently removed will be determined by a trial in the state Senate.
Paxton had fought back hard, going on conservative talk radio to deride Texas House speaker Dade Phelan (R) as a "liberal" and demanding his resignation while accusing him of being "intoxicated" while presiding over a legislative session.
But a detailed look at the allegations underlying Paxton's fall suggests that he acted with a level of impunity stunning even by modern standards.
Among other things, Paxton allegedly fired four employees after they reported "acts of criminal bribery, tampering with government records, harassment, obstruction of justice, and abuse of office" to the FBI.
At the center of the allegations are Paxton's relationship with Nate Paul, an Austin real estate investor and contributor to Paxton's political campaigns who fell on hard financial times.
"The most senior members of the OAG believed in good faith that Paxton was breaking the law and abusing his office to benefit himself as well as his close friend and campaign donor, Austin businessman Nate Paul, and likely the woman with whom, according to media reports, Paxton has carried on a lengthy extramarital affair," the whistleblowers' lawsuit, filed in November 2020, reads.
FBI agents executed search warrants on Paul's home and office in August 2019, the lawsuit says.
From there, Paul started calling in favors with Paxton. They included him asking Paxton to execute search warrants on nearly everyone involved in the chain of events that led to Paul's own search, including:
- The federal magistrate who issued the warrants
- FBI agents who executed the searches
- The federal prosecutors who obtained the warrants
- A federal bankruptcy judge overseeing matters involving Paul's properties
- An Austin charity involved in litigation with Paul
Per the lawsuit, Paul and Paxton enjoyed a cozy personal relationship as Paul made his demands. Paul allegedly hired Paxton's mistress, which she then hid on her Linkedin profile. He gave Paxton a "major remodeling" of Paxton's home in 2020 as well.
In exchange, Paxton used his office to undertake a series of action so egregious, the lawsuit says, "that they could only have been prompted by illicit motives such as a desire to repay debts, pay hush money, or reciprocate favors extended by Paul."
In one instance, Paxton allegedly intervened to approve an open records request from Paul's attorneys for records related to the FBI searches. When the records were released, Paxton allegedly "personally took the file, including all the responsive documents, which included documents sealed by a federal court, and did not return it for approximately seven to ten days."
In another, Paul was facing litigation from a charity that his businesses had partnered with. The charity sued Paul's company, claiming that it was being denied access to books and records from its business partner, with a receiver eventually being appointed to oversee the companies.
Paxton allegedly tried to use the attorney general's office to interfere in the case, including one episode in which staff purportedly had to talk him down from appearing in person at a hearing in the matter.
Keep in mind: these are allegations made in the lawsuit. But Texas House investigators later corroborated many of these claims after Paxton agreed to issue an apology as part of a $3.3 million settlement that lawmakers never agreed to fund.
Other allegations involved Paxton issuing a legal opinion which used COVID-19 to justify halting foreclosure proceedings in August 2020, just as Paul had several foreclosures pending in Austin.
But arguably the most stunning allegations — substantiated by the Committee's investigation — show how far Paxton went in trying to block the FBI's probe.
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