Texas Scorecard by Michael Quinn Sullivan August 24, 2021
Internal investigation finds criminal complaint against Attorney General Ken Paxton had no factual basis – and that the allegations were leveled by people who themselves broke the law.The report doesn’t call it an attempted political coup. But buried in the antiseptic language of an investigative report issued yesterday, it appears several former top employees of Attorney General Ken Paxton were more concerned with furthering their own political career than getting at the truth – and, ironically, at least two were willing to break the law to do it.
Texas’ political world was rocked a year ago when seven top employees of the Office of the Attorney General filed a criminal complaint. They alleged Paxton had received a bribe to aid a campaign donor, Texas businessman Nate Paul.
[Background: Unraveling a Scandal in the Office of the Attorney General, Oct. 17, 2020.]
An internal investigation, however, finds the complaint had no substance and that Paxton himself took actions that were “proper pursuant to his legal obligations.” Meanwhile, “[t]here is no evidence that Nate Paul attempted to bribe [Ken Paxton].”
What emerges from the report is picture of an agency’s senior staff who had decided to take out their boss – a statewide elected official – and were unconcerned with whatever facts needed to be ignored or concocted to make it happen.
More:
https://texasscorecard.com/state/no-one-will-call-it-a-coup/
