Impeached Ken Paxton 'jeopardized a child abuse case' by meeting with accused right-wing activist: report

Impeached Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton endangered a child abuse case being conducted by his own office after meeting privately with the man who was facing criminal charges.

The Houston Chronicle has obtained documents showing that Paxton last year took a meeting with Matthew Ocker, a 46-year-old right-wing activist who had been accused of kicking and choking his own disabled teen daughter.

Paxton's office acknowledges that the meeting took place, although it claims that the attorney general had no idea that Ocker, who attended the meeting without any legal representation, was facing criminal charges.

However, the Chronicle notes that other documents reveal that "Ocker communicated for at least a month with one of Paxton’s closest advisers about his child abuse case before his face-to-face meeting with the state’s top lawyer."

READ MORE: Jack Smith is working to expose 'a broad national conspiracy' to keep Trump in power: CNN legal analyst

After the meeting with Paxton, Ocker's lawyer tried unsuccessfully to use it to persuade a judge to toss the child abuse charges against his client, although the judge overseeing the case did agree that the meeting with Paxton was not appropriate.

Legal experts told the Chronicle that the meeting "may have violated Texas disciplinary rules for attorneys, which prohibit lawyers from talking to other lawyers’ clients, unless the excluded attorney has explicitly consented."

Paxton's impeachment earlier this year had nothing to do with the meeting with Ocker and was instead about actions he allegedly took to abuse his power to help a donor to his campaign.