After years of legal problems, including an indictment, an FBI investigation, and allegations of retaliation against subordinates and improper use of government funds to support a donor, impeached longtime Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is set to face a trial in the state Senate — the first such trial for a statewide Texas official in decades.
And the evidence is "ten times worse" than what has been revealed to the public, attorneys who will be arguing the case told The Daily Beast.
"Famed criminal defense attorney Dick DeGuerin — who has represented clients ranging from former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to convicted murderer and New York City real estate heir Robert Durst to cult leader David Koresh—is now determined to 'save and protect the people of Texas from a crooked attorney general,'" wrote Justin Rohrlich. "'It’s a matter of corruption, a matter of abuse of the public trust, a matter of misuse of public resources, flat-out bribery, perjury,' said DeGuerin, a one-time prosecutor who will help make the case on the House floor for Paxton’s conviction. 'It’s just conduct that convinces anyone that looks at it fairly that the office of attorney general has been abused and used for personal gain.'"
Russell “Rusty” Hardin Jr., another former prosecutor and attorney who will be litigating the case in the Senate, has previously made similar claims to DeGuerin, saying at a May 30 press conference that “I promise you, it's ten times worse than has been public.”
Paxton was impeached by the Republican-controlled Texas House on charges of bribery, abuse of office, and obstruction, stemming from allegations he improperly used his office to give legal support to Nate Paul, an Austin-based real estate developer who contributed to his campaign, and that he fired several state law enforcement officials who tried to file whistleblower complaints. The allegations also say he and his donors have interfered with prosecutors to delay pending charges against him for securities fraud.
"After Paxton was charged with securities fraud, he allegedly accepted a $100,000 donation to his legal defense fund from the president of a medical imaging firm his office was simultaneously investigating for Medicaid fraud, the Associated Press reported," noted the report. "He also took $50,000 from the family of Tom Gleason, a former ice cream company executive he later hired for an adviser role paying $95,000 a year, according to the AP. Gleason was reportedly fired within two months for sharing child pornography during a meeting."
Despite all of this, former President Donald Trump and his allies, who relied on Paxton to launch a frivolous lawsuit to try to overturn the 2020 presidential election, are standing behind him, with Trump even threatening to go after any Republican who tries to remove him from office.
