The House committee in Texas revealed on Tuesday that former deputies of accused Paxton, who had misconduct, were pushing him to settle a whistleblower lawsuit for $3.3 million of taxpayer dollars. This occurred while his office, the Attorney General’s office, was being investigated.
Shortly after the news broke, Dade Phelan, the House speaker, resigned following a notable instance of discord between two prominent Republicans in Texas. Attorney General Paxton swiftly issued a call for resignation amidst accusations of intoxication.
Phelan’s office responded, pointing out that the investigation has been ongoing since March.
In a declaration, Cait Wittman, spokesperson for Phelan, expressed, “The reasons for and timing of Paxton’s statement today are abundantly clear.” “This statement by Mr. Paxton today is merely a desperate attempt to preserve one’s reputation, and it holds little significance.”
The series of scandals that Paxton is facing has already run for years, highlighting the new legal jeopardy he is in. The House General Investigating Committee has the broad authority to initiate impeachment proceedings against a state officer for alleged misconduct in the state government.
The political drama also underscored the political divide between Phelan and Paxton, with Phelan being skeptical of Trump’s party on hold and Paxton being a former loyalist of Donald Trump who hails from the conservative wing of the GOP in Texas. Paxton, a vocal conservative criticizes the House persistently for being insufficiently conservative.
On Wednesday at 8 a.M., The committee is set to convene once more to listen to testimonies regarding the issue. The group collectively decided to send out two legal orders in relation to “Matter A” — one to Paxton’s office and the other to an unidentified individual known as “John Doe No. 6” during a short public gathering of the House Committee on General Investigating on Tuesday afternoon. The unveiling of the House inquiry was initially disclosed.
The committee has been conducting an inquiry into your request for $3.3 million of public funds in order to settle a legal dispute between your agency and dismissed whistleblowers, as communicated in the letter to Paxton. The committee instructed Paxton’s office, as stated in the letter, to retain all evidence pertaining to the investigation.
In February, Paxton reached a $3.3 million settlement with four former deputies who claimed they had been fired in retaliation for reporting alleged misconduct to federal investigators. Both chambers of lawmakers have balked at authorizing taxpayer dollars to pay for Phelan’s opposition to it.
The draft of the state budget prohibits lawmakers from passing the settlement to have funds coming in the days ahead.
Investigating the General House, Paxton was also asked about the probe. Paxton took to Twitter to call for the resignation of Phelan, accusing him of presiding over the chamber in an apparent state of intoxication. However, Paxton did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Murr’s announcement of the subpoenas before the Investigating General Committee, two hours before.
Over the weekend, a video clip went viral showing Phelan’s office repeatedly declining to comment on what took place while overseeing Friday night proceedings on the House floor, with his slurring words.
Paxton expressed deep disappointment and after careful thought, stated on Twitter that Speaker Dade Phelan seemed to be severely impaired and urged him to step down by the conclusion of this legislative session.
“Paxton wrote,” the public to duty his up live to failure a constitutes and process legislative the impacted negatively has conduct His.
The 44-second video clip of Phelan began circulating on social media over the weekend, prompting criticism from both former state Rep. Jonathan Stickland and other critics, including anonymous text messages deriding Phelan as “Drunk Dade.”
In Royse City, former state Representative Bryan Slaton, along with his political supporters, faced expulsion from the House due to the influence of individuals like Stickland who might seek retaliation. Supporters of Phelan pointed out that Slaton appeared to speak in a normal manner before and after the video clip.
The House ousted Slaton after an investigation by the House General Committee on Investigating found him engaged in sexual misconduct with a 19-year-old aide.
Paxton has been struggling with his own ethical issues for several years. He was indicted in 2011 for being connected to fraudulent securities deals in the private business sector, but he only took office in 2015, several months later. He has consistently denied any wrongdoing.
In November 2020, Paxton was taken to court by David Maxwell, Blake Brickman, Mark Penley, and Ryan Vassar based on the Texas Whistleblower Act. Shortly after, all eight of those workers were terminated or departed from the attorney general’s office. In 2018, real estate investor Nate Paul contributed $25,000 to Paxton’s election campaign, and in autumn 2020, eight senior officials in the attorney general’s office alleged that Paxton was wrongly leveraging his role to favor Paul.
Later on that same day, Paul postponed a foreclosure auction for one of his properties, enabling Paxton to quickly produce a written judgment stating that foreclosure sales needed to be halted in accordance with pandemic safety regulations. They also asserted that Paxton granted political favors to Paul, such as assisting the Austin entrepreneur in obtaining investigative records linked to the 2019 searches of Paul’s residence and businesses conducted by both state and federal agencies. The four former officials stated these allegations in their legal complaint.
R-McKinney Paxton, Angela Sen. Claims that Paxton, who was allegedly in a relationship with a woman named Paxton, had given a job to Paxton and had helped remodel his home, Paul helped in return.
The case has been ruled upon by the Supreme Court, and the lawyers asked the court to resume the lawsuit using public dollars. Neither the legislative chamber nor the supporting chamber supported this request in March when it became clear. The settlement of the lawsuit, using public dollars, was subject to legislative approval. However, the agreement for a potential $3.3 million settlement was reached between the two sides after considering the case’s impact on the fired employees. The fate of the whistleblower case is now in the air due to the Legislature’s refusal to fund the settlement.
The employees’ lawyers argue that if the settlement had not been reached, an unjust termination of employment could have led to a protracted legal dispute with an uncertain outcome, and they believe their clients could have been entitled to compensation.
The investigation, which began in February 2020, was taken over by the U.S. Department of Justice investigators in Washington D.C. After the employees’ allegations were made public, the FBI started investigating Paxton. Lawyers for their clients argue that they have already conveyed their knowledge of the alleged crimes to both federal and state authorities. Importantly, this has been done.
Paxton is facing a lawsuit from the State Bar of Texas’ Lawyer Discipline Commission, accusing him of professional misconduct by engaging in dishonest claims when he asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn Joe Biden’s 2020 election victories in four swing states, before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in Dallas. He also faces a lawsuit in 2022.
During the regular legislative session, the House witnessed proposals succumb to a deadline that effectively killed them on Saturday. These proposals included measures to safeguard the credibility of our elections and thwart Chinese spies from exerting control over Texan territory. Paxton, while urging Phelan to step down, rebuked the House for this lack of accomplishment. The session is set to conclude on Monday and is gradually coming to an end.
The removed legislator, Slaton, has political connections with Paxton. The Defend Texas Liberty PAC, the organization managed by Stickland and largely funded by conservative megadonors Tim Dunn and the Wilks family, has been a leading supporter in their political campaigns.
According to the Phelan spokesperson, the House investigation into Paxton and Wittman has been ongoing since March, as evidenced by committee minutes and official House records. However, the committee has not publicly commented on the nature of Matter A, suggesting that it remains a secret and pending further investigation.