Scandal-plagued Texas AG Ken Paxton releases his own report clearing himself of wrongdoing

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton released his own report Tuesday claiming to clear himself of allegations that he repeatedly used his office to do favors for a campaign donor.

You can't make this stuff up.

"It's not clear who authored the report or how many work hours or taxpayer dollars went into producing it," The Dallas Morning News reported. "The agency did not immediately return a request for comment Tuesday morning."

Although Paxton is under FBI investigation for the alleged favors, it should be noted that this is not to be confused with his previous indictment on different corruption allegations.

"In a separate matter, Paxton was indicted in 2015 and has been facing three felony charges since then for allegedly defrauding investors in a McKinney tech startup," the Morning News reminded its readers. "He has pleaded not guilty but not gone to trial in that case."

These allegations -- incredibly pending for six years -- are unrelated to the newest ones. As to the new allegations, Paxton's own office boldly assured Texans that there was nothing to see here.

"The 374-page internal report declared all of Paxton's actions regarding Austin real estate developer Nate Paul 'were indeed lawful' and that all allegations against him were 'either factually incorrect or legally deficient.' It added there was 'no evidence' of a bribe or quid pro quo relationship between Paxton and Paul," the Morning News reported.

"The FBI is investigating the claims, lodged by several senior employees last year, that Paxton used his power as attorney general to help Paul, who contributed $25,000 to Paxton's campaign in 2018," the paper continued. "Paxton denies the allegations and has pointed back at the eight employees, all of whom resigned or were fired from the agency. Four are now suing Paxton for retaliation, and have accused him of swapping political favors for Paul's help remodeling his home and getting a job for a woman with whom the attorney general was allegedly having an affair."

Attorneys for Paxton's accusers didn't appear impressed, based on what the Morning News reported as their reaction.

"In a statement, the accusers' attorneys said the takeaway from the report is that 'although Ken Paxton remains under active federal investigation, the people who still work for Paxton say he did nothing wrong.'"

"Notably, whoever in Paxton's office wrote this report was not willing to put their name on it. Of course, the one-sided internal report is full of half-truths, outright lies, and glaring omissions," they said.