Stammering Ken Paxton spews epic word salad as Fox News demands explanation
A scandal-beleaguered Texas candidate running on President Donald Trump's questionable endorsement spewed a word salad Sunday when asked why he had three primary homes.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton — running for the U.S. Senate against state Rep. James Talarico — spluttered on and on about his state's constitution, various counties, the locations of a few of his 15 homes, and fraud.
"So this idea that somehow that's fraudulent, they of course aren't following Texas law," Paxton declared. "They don't real– either don't realize or they're being deceptive — about what was required under the Texas Constitution that was changed."
Paxton was responding to multiple reports that he and his wife had been able to improperly lock in low interest rates by claiming three different homes, one worth $1.5 million, as primary residences. (The New York Times estimates Paxton owns 15 homes worth about $9 million.)
Past Paxton scandals include a grand jury indictment on felony securities fraud charges, whistleblowers’ accusations that led to the Texas House impeaching him, and allegations that he helped a campaign donor in exchange for home renovations, according to the Texas Tribune.
Talarico has also campaigned on the promise he won't steal his constituent's pens, as one local resident has accused Paxton of doing.
On Saturday, Talarico dropped his first attack ad of the campaign targeting the accusations of corruption that plague Paxton.
"He now owns fifteen homes while most Texans can't afford one," Talarico says in the ad. "We cannot afford Ken Paxton's corruption."
While the ad didn't reference the primary-homes issue, Paxton suggested his competitor was the source of the claim — not reporting from the Associated Press.
Here's what Paxton had to say:
“Yeah. So in Texas, the Constitution used to require that you, if you're a statewide officeholder, you have to move to the capital. So I used to live in Collin County. I had, when I became attorney general, I bought a condo in Austin so that I could live in the capital pursuant to what the Constitution required. Well, then my wife became a state senator. She wanted to buy a house, and by the way, that became my primary residence because it was required by the Constitution. So, when we bought a new house, we moved our primary residence to – to a house. So that was, both were dictated by the Constitution, and then they changed the Constitution. They got rid of that requirement that you have as a statewide officer that you have to have a residence, or you have to live, whatever that means, in – in Austin. And so when that happened, I moved back to Collin County. So this idea that somehow that's fraudulent, they of course aren't following Texas law. They don't real – either don't realize or they're being deceptive about what was required under the Texas Constitution that was changed. So this, this is, just a con job by James Talarico, again, because he doesn't want you to know that he's a radical leftist, that he supports all these crazy agendas."