Texas AG Ken Paxton's Impeachment and Other Criminal Investigations

[Cooked Crack]

Quote

"We didn't care what the MSM said," the top GOP strategist said.     

 

"We basically ignored them from start to finish. Goal was to fire up the grassroots. A story in National Pulse, Post Millennial and similar publications was more valuable than any harm an A1 NYT story could do." 

 

What we're hearing: It was made clear to Texas GOP senators that they'd face a very well-funded primary opponent in their next election if they voted to impeach. 

 

How it worked: Steve Bannon was a big Paxton backer on his WarRoom podcast.

 

[Fan since a Fetus]

Trump and the dispicable viruses he has helped bring out of the mud are one of the worst things to happen to this country. How do you even stop them at this point?

[ixcuincle]

He always leaps to take credit lol

 

[China]

Several Paxton whistleblowers vowing 'not to go away'

 

Several of the so-called whistleblowers came out swinging Monday against their former boss, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, vowing “not to go away” and to continue their efforts to hold him accountable for what they say was the systemic abuse of his office on behalf of a friend and campaign donor.

 

Whistleblowers Blake Brickman and Mark Penley, both self-described conservative Republicans, spoke on the same day that their attorneys filed a motion with the Texas Supreme Court seeking to lift the stay on their case and have it sent back to Travis County District Court. A third whistleblower, Ryan Vassar, was also there during the press conference.

 

“The political trial is over,” Brickman said. “It’s time for the case to return to a real court.”

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Harris County judge sides with special prosecutors in AG Ken Paxton criminal case pay dispute

 

A Harris County district judge has sided with special prosecutors in the Ken Paxton criminal case in their fight to get paid.

 

It’s a major development in a legal battle that has delayed the Texas Attorney General’s felony securities fraud case for nearly eight years.

 

Special prosecutors accused officials in Collin County of trying to “derail” the prosecution by defunding it.

 

That suburban Dallas county is home to the technology company Paxton is accused of soliciting investors for without telling them he was being paid to do so.

 

It’s also where Paxton owns a home and enjoys deep support.

 

According to a new filing to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, Judge Andrea Beall ruled Tuesday that special prosecutors Brice Wice and Kent Schaffer should be paid $300 an hour for their work in 2016. That’s the rate the two were promised when they took the job in 2015.

 

Collin County last paid them $242,025 in January 2016 before Paxton challenged the rate.

 

"Judge Beall’s well-reasoned decision clearly falls within the zone of her inherent and virtually unlimited judicial discretion,” said Wice and Schaffer, in a statement to KHOU 11 Thursday afternoon. "We’re confident that the Court of Criminal Appeals will enforce her lawful order with all deliberate speed and finally put an end to Collin County’s incessant, transparent, and purely political ploy to derail Ken Paxton’s prosecution by defunding it."

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Nate Paul, the businessman at the center of Ken Paxton’s impeachment, charged with four new federal crimes

 

Nate Paul, the Austin real estate investor whose relationship with Attorney General Ken Paxton was central to his September impeachment trial, was charged with new crimes by federal prosecutors on Wednesday.

 

The U.S. attorney for the Western District of Texas filed an amended indictment charging Paul, 36, with four counts of wire fraud related to allegations that he lied to business partners who invested in real estate with his company, World Class Holdings, and its affiliates.

 

They are in addition to the eight felony counts prosecutors filed in June, which allege that Paul provided false information to financial institutions in order to obtain loans to purchase properties.

 

Paul’s attorney, David Gerger, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

 

Paul’s trial is scheduled for July of 2024.

 

Neither of the indictments mention Paxton, who was acquitted by the Texas Senate of 16 articles of impeachment in September.

 

During the impeachment trial, whistleblowers testified they believed Paul to be a criminal and were concerned that Paxton was essentially turning the keys of the office over to him.

 

Paxton remains the subject of an FBI investigation that began in 2020. A grand jury heard testimony in the case as recently as October. Paul’s lawyers have repeatedly declined to say whether the real estate investor is cooperating with prosecutors in the Paxton investigation.

 

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[China]

Judge again rejects AG Ken Paxton's motion to block his deposition in whistleblower case

 

Travis County state District Court judge has again rejected a motion by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to halt a wrongful termination lawsuit brought by former top aides in his office, allowing previously scheduled depositions and settlement talks to move forward.

 

In a last-ditch move by Paxton to overturn the District Court's order compelling him to testify under oath on the situation that led four of his former top deputies to complain to the FBI about Paxton's possible misconduct in helping a friend and campaign donor, the Wednesday ruling by state District Judge Jan Soifer keeps in place Paxton's previously scheduled deposition on Feb. 1.

 

Paxton has unsuccessfully sought to block his testimony under oath in the district, appeals and state supreme courts.

 

Specifically, Paxton's attorney, Bill Helfand, sought an emergency ruling to negate Soifer's Jan. 19 order compelling depositions by him and several top aides in his office, an order that was handed down one day after Paxton unexpectedly filed a motion signaling his intent to accept a final ruling in the case and no longer contesting the whistleblowers' accusations.

Through two court filings attempting to quash the depositions in the past week, Paxton's team has argued the depositions are unnecessary "because the OAG (Office of the Attorney General) does not and will not dispute liability or damages on Plaintiffs’ sole claim under the Texas Whistleblower Act."

 

On Wednesday afternoon, Soifer rejected both a request to vacate the previous ruling and declined to schedule an emergency hearing on the issue, saying that both parties have had appropriate notice of the impending depositions.

 

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

AG Ken Paxton back in court Friday in securities fraud case

 

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will be in a Houston court Friday in a nearly 9-year-old securities fraud case he is now seeking to dismiss.

 

Paxton could face trial as early as April 15. But as that trial date approaches, his lawyers are asking a judge to toss the case, arguing that lengthy delays have violated his constitutional right to a speedy trial.

 

“At minimum, the State’s inactivity imposed additional and entirely foreseeable — and unnecessary — worry, anxiety, employment and financial difficulties, and frustration upon Paxton,” his defense team argues.

 

The special prosecutors in the case have countered that Paxton himself is responsible for much of the delay and that his legal team could have argued for a speedy trial while the case languished during several rounds of appeals.

 

Paxton is accused of two felony fraud charges for allegedly courting investors into a Collin County tech company without disclosing that he was being compensated for the work.

He is also accused of funneling clients to a friend’s investment firm without registering with state regulators. In 2014, the Texas State Securities Board fined him $1,000 for failing to register.

 

The attorney general could face up to 99 years in prison as well as fines if convicted of the fraud charges. Paxton has pleaded not guilty.

 

Pressing to continue toward trial, the prosecutors argue that Paxton’s political victories, including fending off impeachment, are proof that the pending case has caused the attorney general little strain. Since he was indicted, Paxton has been reelected attorney general twice and become one of the most visible state attorneys general in the country.

 

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[LadySkinsFan]

Hard to argue that when Paxton has done all he can to delay the trial in the first place. He's worried about this one. 

[Califan007 The Constipated]

6 hours ago, LadySkinsFan said:

Hard to argue that when Paxton has done all he can to delay the trial in the first place. He's worried about this one. 

 

It definitely seems that way...

[China]

‘Ken, You Lost This Case’: Texas AG Mocked for Absurdly Claiming a ‘WIN’ After Supreme Court Rules 9-0 Against Him

 

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) has an astounding talent for avoiding consequences — surviving last year’s impeachment effort and weaseling out of a long-running securities fraud criminal case with only restitution and community service as penalties — but even he can’t get away with a flat-out lie about a Supreme Court verdict against his office.

 

Paxton was suspended from office after being impeached by the Texas House over multiple counts of corruption and bribery. He got his job back after he was acquitted by the Texas Senate, a legislative body where his wife Angela Paxton (R) is a state senator (although the rules barred her from the vote) and that is led by Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick (R), who is supported by the same cabal of wealthy West Texas archconservative donors and who gave Paxton’s campaign a $125,000 “loan” without ever seeming to care if it was paid back.

The embattled attorney general also infamously spearheaded a lawsuit challenging the 2020 election that was so absurd and based on “bogus claims” that not only did the Supreme Court laugh it right out the courthouse doors, he’s facing professional ethical misconduct violations for the attempt.

 

Paxton got a similarly chilly reception at the nation’s highest court this month, when his office argued against Texas ranchers who were seeking compensation from the state over a Fifth Amendment takings clause issue.

 

The Institute for Justice (IJ), a nonprofit public interest law firm, represented rancher Richie DeVillier in the litigation, who sued after his ranch was repeatedly flooded by a new median wall built by Texas officials along a highway just to the south of his property, which ended up functioning like a dam during hurricanes and other periods of heavy rain.

 

The Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution requires that when private property is “taken for public use,” then the government must pay “just compensation” to the property owner. That’s a relatively simple legal question when, for example, a county takes ownership of land via eminent domain to build a highway; it’s more complex when the property owner alleges that the government didn’t seize the legal title to the property but instead did something to damage the value of that property, as DeVillier argued was happening when the new highway median kept causing his property to flood, destroying his crops and drowning his horses and cattle.

 

 

Paxton’s tweet was swiftly swarmed by people pointing out that the Supreme Court had ruled against what Texas had wanted, allowing DeVillier’s lawsuit to go forward in federal court and pursue compensation under the Fifth Amendment takings clause, and that his office had been fighting against a landowner’s property rights here.

 

A Community Note dunked on Paxton, pointing out that the ruling was the “complete opposite” of a win.

 

 

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