CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The historic impeachment trial of suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton is underway in the Texas Senate. He faces 16 articles of impeachment that accuse him ofmisusing the powers of the attorney general’s office to help his friend and donor Nate Paul, an Austin real estate investor who was under federal investigation.
Paxton pleaded not guilty to all impeachment articles on the trial’s first day. His defense attorneys have vowed to disprove the accusations and said they will present evidence showing they are based on assumptions, not facts.
The trial could last several weeks and is expected to hinge on Paxton’s relationship with Paul. It could also prominently feature details of Paxton’salleged extramarital affair. The proceedings involve a massive cast of elected officials, high-profile lawyers, whistleblowers from within Paxton’s office and the attorney general’s former personal assistant.
Watch Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial live Sept. 7, 2023 at 5:00 a.m. Proceedings in suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial are expected to begin at 9 a.m. You can watch them here.
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What’s this second referral? Sept. 7, 2023 at 9:53 a.m. Throughout his cross examination of Jeff Mateer yesterday, Paxton lawyer Tony Buzbee repeatedly mentioned the “second referral” the Travis County District Attorney’s Office made of a Nate Paul complaint. What was he talking about?
Paul filed two complaints with Travis County prosecutors. The first, filed in June 2020, alleged that Paul had been mistreated by law enforcement officials who authorized and executed a raid on his home and business in August 2019. After prosecutors referred it to the attorney general’s office, which they later told investigators they did as a courtesy to Paxton, Paul and his lawyer met with senior agency officials, who concluded the complaint lacked merit.
Paul’s second complaint to Travis County, in September 2020, alleged he was the victim of awide-ranging conspiracy by business rivals, a court-appointed lawyer and a federal judge to steal his properties. The district attorney’s office referred the complaint directly to Brandon Cammack, the outside counsel Paxton had hired to assist Paul. Therefore, Mateer and other senior advisers did not know it existed until after they reported concerns about Paxton’s behavior to the FBI.
Buzbee argued that Mateer was reckless and misinformed when he spoke with federal agents. If Mateer had known about the second referral, Buzbee reasoned, he would have known that Cammack’s inquiry was legitimate, as were the subpoenas he issued to banks that had lent money to Paul’s businesses.
What Buzbee did not mention, however, was that no evidence has emerged, in the impeachment trial or any other forum, supporting the second complaint, which Paul code named “Operation Tarrytown.” And House exhibits reveal that Paul and his lawyer haddirected Cammack on how to conduct the probe, including by identifying investigative targets and writing the subpoenas, which he called “Operation Deep Sea.”– Zach Despart
The Blast: Paxton fundraises and lawyers sure are pricey Sept. 7, 2023 at 9:19 a.m. This is an excerpt from The Blast, our paid newsletter aimed at equipping civically-engaged Texans with insider information about Texas politics. Lead writer Renzo Downey is bringing exclusive daily non-partisan analysis and commentary about the impeachment trial for suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton.
While he faces the trial of his political life, impeached Attorney General Ken Paxton is appealing to his financial supporters to help fund his campaign.“With your help, I can be back in office by the end of the month,” Paxton wrote in a fundraising email sent out today.It’s important to note that Paxton is allowed to pay for his counsel with his campaign funds. In this case, Paxton is being represented by Tony Buzbee, Dan Cogdell and Stone Hilton PLLC — a new firm rushed into reality by OAG employees who are on leave to defend Paxton.
In the words of Buzbee: “There are no coincidences in Austin.”During Buzbee’s cross-examination of Jeff Mateer today, Mateer and Buzbee discussed the hourly rates of outside counsel. Buzbee then recognized that the “world-class lawyers” for the House managers, Rusty Hardin and Dick DeGuerin, are getting $500 an hour.“What’s your rate?” Mateer asked Buzbee.“Well, you’ll find out soon enough,” he responded.Near the end of the day, Buzbee tagged out to other counsel on Team Paxton while Hardin questioned the prosecution’s next witness, Ryan Bangert. Buzbee was sitting next to “Eric,” scrolling on his phone. During the questioning, an Instagram story by Buzbee’s wife appeared on his own story, offering a reminder that Buzbee is running for Houston City Council.
“Out delivering @tonybuzbee for City Council District G signs today! If you live in district G and would like one… message me and we will get one to you!!!”This was an excerpt from the Sept. 6 edition of The Blast. Read the entire issue for free and subscribe today for future editions.Buzbee claims photos of him are doctored Sept. 7, 2023 at 9:33 a.m. Ken Paxton’s attorney Tony Buzbee began Thursday with a peculiar accusation: That the media has been doctoring photos to make him appear more “tan.”In a post to his Instagram, Buzbee posted photos from “two different reputable news organizations” that he said show him with dramatically different skin colors. One of the photos appears to be a screenshot from a livestream of the Senate trial.“I am out in the sun a lot, but I don’t think my skin has ever been that ‘tan,’” Buzbee wrote. “Why would they doctor my pic? I’m sure you could take a guess. So you think the news isn’t bias? Think again.”– Robert DownenTestimony to resume with whistleblower Ryan Bangert Sept. 7, 2023 at 8:48 a.m.
Day three of Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial will resume at 9 a.m. with more testimony from Ryan Bangert, former deputy first assistant attorney general and one of the seven whistleblowers who reported Paxton’s allegedly illegal behavior to federal authorities in 2020.
Bangert gave crisp, direct testimony on Wednesday afternoon detailing how Ken Paxton repeatedly asked him to intervene on issues related to his political donor, Nate Paul. Bangert described Paxton’s behavior as “bizarre,” and alarming.Much of the testimony focused on Paxton’s demands that Bangert write an attorney general opinion that would prohibit in-person home foreclosure sales during the COVID-19 pandemic, an opinion that countered the office’s and state government’s decisions to reopen the state. “He was acting like a man with a gun to his head,” Bangert stated. “Anxious, desperate, urging me to get this [opinion] out as quickly as humanly possible.”
Bangert is a bona fide conservative who belongs to the conservative Federalist Society and at one point worked under Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley when he was that state’s attorney general, before coming back to Texas to serve in Paxton’s office. After House lawyer Rusty Hardin finishes his questioning, Bangert will face cross-examination from Patxon’s defense team. On Wednesday, Paxton lawyer Tony Buzbee led a long, meandering cross-examination of the prosecution’s first witness, Jeff Mateer. He attempted to paint him as a rogue employee who staged a “coup” of the attorney general’s office, an accusation Mateer vehemently denied. Paxton has not appeared on the Senate floor since Buzbee pleaded not-guilty on his behalf Tuesday. — Kate McGee Paxton asks for campaign donations amid impeachment trial Sept. 7, 2023 at 5:00 a.m. As the Ken Paxton impeachment trial continued early Wednesday evening, Paxton sent a fundraising email to supporters, telling them that “with your help, I can be back in office by the end of the month.”In the lengthy email published on social media by a Dallas Morning News reporter, Paxton touted his role in pushing back against President Joe Biden’s policies and cited “crucial victories” against “Big Tech tyranny and deceitful business practices.”“I will NEVER SURRENDER,” he added before asking supporters if they can spare $50 “to help me stand strong.”The fundraising email came hours after Paxton attorney Tony Buzbee again demurred on questions about the financing of the suspended attorney general’s defense. After Buzbee mentioned that lead prosecutors Dick DeGuerin and Rusty Hardin were being paid $500 an hour for their services, witness Jeff Mateer asked Buzbee about his own rate."You'll find out soon enough,” Buzbee responded.— Robert DownenWitness says Paxton's behavior was alarming; defense alleges an attempted coup Sept. 7, 2023 at 5:00 a.m. Wednesday’s impeachment proceedings were dominated by testimony from Jeff Mateer, the former second-in-command to suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton. He told senators that Paxton’s relationship with real estate investor Nate Paul was alarming.
Among the actions that concerned him: Paxton’s insistence that the agency write a midnight opinion that declared foreclosure auctions unsafe because of COVID-19, which Paul used days later to stave off the sales of numerous properties he owned.Mateer said a turning point came when he learned that Paxton had resumed an extramarital affair with a woman who was hired at Paul’s company in mid-2020.
[Who’s who in the Ken Paxton impeachment trial, from key participants to potential witnesses]
Mateer said he finally understood why the attorney general had fought so hard, and risked so much, to help Paul — including hiring an outside attorney to investigate Paul’s business rivals.During cross examination, Paxton’s lead attorney Tony Buzbee accused Mateer of “staging a coup” against Paxton.In a meandering, hours-long cross examination, Buzbee often jumped from one line of questioning to the other as he insinuated that Mateer and other senior staff were colluding against Paxton by meeting with the governor and lobbyists from the group Texans for Lawsuit Reform and by moving to have the attorney general’s office hire an outside lawyer before approaching the FBI about Paxton’s relationship with Paxton donor and friend Nate Paul.“You were involved in staging a coup, weren’t you?” Buzbee asked.“Absolutely not,” Mateer responded.This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2023/09/07/ken-paxton-impeachment-trial-live-updates/.
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