A war is brewing among Texas Republicans over the fate of the state’s attorney general.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) has spent the past four years in legal limbo since being indicted by a state grand jury in 2016 for securities fraud.
But now he faces the most significant career threat under the GOP-controlled state House. The fight has included accusations of public drunkenness, corruption, and adultery.
On Wednesday (May 24), four former state attorneys general, commissioned by the state House of Representatives, publicly released the results of an extensive investigation into Paxton’s alleged years of wrongdoing.
Headlining those allegations: accusations that Paxton took bribes from an Austin real estate developer, fired four deputies who reported it to law enforcement — and caused taxpayers to have to foot a $3.3 million whistleblowers settlement.
Paxton is also accused of seeking a better-paying job for a woman he had an affair with who worked in his wife’s office.
Republican state Rep. Andrew Murr described the accusations as “alarming and very serious,” saying the claims “curl my mustache” who has an elaborate wax-tipped mustache.
In addition to committing crimes himself, one member of the House investigative team told the oversight committee claimed Paxton also conspired with others to commit crimes in violation of both Texas state law and federal law.
On Tuesday (May 23), Paxton hit back and accused House Speaker Dade Phelan (R) of presiding over Tuesday’s hearing “in a state of apparent debilitating intoxication” after a video surfaced of the GOP leader stumbling over his words from the dias.
