AUSTIN, Texas — Investigators main the impeachment of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton have launched practically 4,000 pages of paperwork that lay out in new element how the embattled Republican allegedly used a number of cellphones and an alias on a ride-sharing app to hide an affair, and pressured high aides to assist a donor who’s now dealing with legal fees.
The reams of displays, most of which have been publicly filed late Thursday and embrace emails and textual content messages, are the muse of House Republicans’ case that Paxton abused his workplace and must be ousted on the finish of a historic impeachment trial that begins Sept. 5 within the Texas Capitol.
“It’s a complicated story,” Mark Penley, certainly one of Paxton’s former deputies, informed investigators throughout a deposition in March. “But if you understand what was going on, this was outrageous conduct by an Attorney General that’s supposed to be the chief law enforcement officer for the State of Texas, not the chief lawbreaking officer.”
Paxton, who has been suspended from workplace since being impeached by the GOP-controlled Texas House in May, has broadly denied wrongdoing and waved off the accusations as politically motivated.
A spokesperson for Paxton stated Friday that he couldn’t remark due to a gag order imposed by Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the chief of the GOP-controlled state Senate that can determine whether or not to convict or acquit Paxton.
Paxton’s spouse, Angela, is a senator however is barred from voting within the proceedings.
The paperwork present the fullest image to this point of accusations which have shadowed Paxton since eight of his highest-ranking deputies, together with Penley, staged a rare revolt in 2020 and reported him to the FBI. They alleged that Paxton had unlawfully used the ability of his workplace in an try to protect Austin actual property developer Nate Paul from authorized troubles.
In December 2019, Penley informed investigators, Paxton met him at a Starbucks in a rich Dallas enclave and requested him to take a cellphone name with him inside a automobile within the car parking zone. Penley stated the decision was with Paul and that Paxton described him as a buddy who was having points with the FBI.
Months later, Penley stated within the deposition, he met Paxton outdoors a Dunkin Donuts at a strip mall and urged him to again away from Paul. But Penley stated Paxton as a substitute pressed him to approve paying an outdoor legal professional whom Paxton had employed to look into Paul’s claims.
Paul was arrested in June and charged with making false statements to banks in an effort to procure greater than $170 million in loans. He has pleaded not responsible.
The newly filed displays additionally embrace Uber information that allegedly present Paxton utilizing an alias, “Dave P.”, to rent rides to hide visits to Paul and a girl with whom Paxton was having an extramarital affair. The paperwork additionally embrace accusations that Paxton used a number of telephones.
Earlier this month, Paxton’s attorneys argued in filings to the Senate that the Texas House’s case was groundless as a result of legislators have “no evidence that Attorney General Kenneth Paxton committed any wrongdoing or illegal acts, and have no evidence to support any of the pending Articles of Impeachment.”
Paxton was reelected to a 3rd time period in November regardless of the cloud of scandal, which his supporters say reveals that voters need him in workplace. Paxton can also be dealing with a number of authorized troubles past the impeachment, together with a securities fraud indictment from 2015 that has but to go to trial and an ongoing FBI investigation.
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