AUSTIN, Texas – The historic impeachment trial of suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton in the Texas Senate resumes Monday at 9 a.m.
Paxton faces 16 articles of impeachment that accuse him of misusing the powers of the attorney general’s office to help his friend and donor Nate Paul, an Austin real estate investor who was under federal investigation.
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Paxton pleaded not guilty to all impeachment articles on the trial’s first day, which started Tuesday, Sept. 5. During the first week, whistleblowers who reported Paxton to the FBI for criminal activity, testified that he was “obsessed” with helping his friend Paul.
Both sides were each given 27 hours to present their cases and arguments and have used up about half that time, said Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is presiding over the trial.
If convicted by the Texas Senate, Paxton would be removed from office and possibly barred from holding any political office in the future.
A two-thirds majority — or at least 21 votes — is needed to convict. That means if all Democrats vote against Paxton, they still need nine Republicans to join them.
Sept. 11, 2023 at 7:00 p.m.
Court will resume Tuesday at 9 a.m.
Sept. 11, 2023 at 5:34 p.m.
The fourth witness of the day was called to the stand, former Democratic Travis County District Attorney Margaret McCarthy Moore.
Moore testified that she agreed to meet with Paxton for lunch about a case he felt should be investigated by the DA’s Office.
At the meeting, she learned about Nate Paul and the complaints that he had filed. She said her staffers called the complaints “ridiculous,” and said they were going nowhere. Moore testified that she had no intention of investigating the complaint or prosecuting the complaint.
Moore said Nate Paul’s complaint was handled routinely due to her friendship with Paxton, but if he had come to her office on his own, he would have received a rejection letter.
Moore testified that she did not authorize anyone to investigate the complaint or appoint anyone. She also said the Travis County DA’s office didn’t hire anyone to look into the complaint. She said her office had nothing to do with assisting Brandon Cammack with the case.
A video was then played, showing an interview with the Office of Attorney General that said Brandon Cammack was hired by the Office of Attorney General as outside counsel and was then appointed as a special prosecutor by the Travis County DA. Moore called the video “untruthful.”
Moore was then cross-examined by Tony Buzbee.
Buzbee questioned Moore about her office’s involvement with assisting Cammack. She said she wasn’t aware, until recently, that multiple people in her office assisted Cammack with the case.
Sept. 11, 2023 at 4:27 p.m.
The third witness of the day was called to the stand by the House Board of Managers, Greg Cox, first assistant with the Hays County District Attorney’s Office in San Marcos. He previously worked for the Travis County District Attorney’s Office.
During his testimony, Cox recalled his first instance with Ken Paxton and Nate Paul. In October 2020, he said he received an open records request related to Ken Paxton and Nate Paul. He said he was asked by Travis County DA Margaret Moore to join some meetings looking into the matter.
He testified that he spoke with lawyers representing the Mitte Foundation, and after that conversation, he drafted up possible criminal offenses against Paxton.
When listing the possible offenses, Cox said: Bribery, accepting a gift to a public servant, abuse of official capacity, election code violations, tampering with a governmental record, perjury related to personal financial statements, coercion of a public servant and official oppression and retaliation.
Cox said he and his office were aware of the federal investigation against Nate Paul and grew concerned about interfering if they opened a new investigation. He said then reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office and was advised to stand down.
The prosecution passed the witness.
Buzbee cross-examined Cox, criticizing his testimony, saying it was filled with a bunch of “maybes.”
Sept. 11, 2023 at 4:11 p.m.
Cary is passed and Tony Buzbee begins cross-examination.
Buzbee immediately started questioning Cary about Paxton’s affair and her knowledge of the affair, even bringing her memory into question.
He then moved on to the contract situation, saying Paxton has the authority to sign the outside counsel contract, to which Cary agreed. She also agreed when he asked if Paxton could change rules, but added that he had to go through an administrative process before doing so.
Sept. 11, 2023 at 2:13 p.m.
The second witness of the day, Katherine “Missy” Cary, the former chief of staff in the attorney general’s office, was called to the stand.
Cary testified how she learned about Paxton’s alleged affair and how he ultimately confessed to it.
Paxton’s wife, Sen. Angela Paxton, listened to the testimony on from the Senate floor.
“My heart broke for her,” Cary said of Angela Paxton, who is disqualified from voting in the trial but has to attend.
She said the alleged relationship had a morale impact on staff, adding how Angela Paxton would call the office to try to track down her husband, which made the staffers feel “uncomfortable answering those questions.”
Cary stated that she eventually had a meeting with Ken Paxton and they discussed the “ethical implications of a secret affair.”
One of the things Cary said they discussed was that such conduct could “open one up to bribery and misuse of office” — allegations at the center of his impeachment, according to the Texas Tribune.
In September 2018, Paxton and his wife convened a meeting with top aides where he confessed to the affair, Cary said. After that meeting, Cary said, she believed such behavior was “out of [Paxton’s] life for good,” according to the report. But a month later in 2019, Cary said, Paxton told her the affair was continuing.
Cary then moved on to testify about Paxton seeking outside counsel. She said she informed him that he could seek outside counsel but a waiver had to be in writing. She added that since Penley and Mateer refused to sign the waiver, it would be hard to resolve the best interest standard for funding. She said everyone needed to be on the same page before moving forward with hiring outside counsel.
Cary testified that she is not a whistleblower and said she filed for retirement.
Sept. 11, 2023 at 11:57 a.m
Defense attorney Mitch Little started questioning Penley. He immediately dived into things, asking if there was anything illegal about the investigation they conducting, to which Penley said it wasn’t.
“Did you break any laws in conducting this investigation?” Little asked. “No, of course not,” Penley said. “Were you asked to do anything illegal during the investigation?” Little asked. “Yes,” Penley said.
Little asked Penley why he never confronted Paxton about possibly being bribed by Nate Paul. Penley said he began to be concerned about what was going on in Paxton’s mind around Aug. 8. He said he recommended closing the investigation because the metadata theory didn’t prove a crime.
Sept. 11, 2023 at 11:56 a.m
Hardin passed the witness and cross-examination began.
Sept. 11, 2023 at 10:55 a.m
House impeachment manager lawyer Rusty Hardin continued questioning Penley, who testified that he thought Paxton was biased against law enforcement due to his friendship with Nate Paul.
The conversation about documents continued, with Penley saying on Sept. 14, 2020, he spoke with Michael Wynne about getting access to Nate Paul’s documents. Paxton said Nate Paul and his lawyer were reluctant about giving Penley the documents because they did not trust him. Penley said he started feeling like Paxton was against him, and after the phone call on Sept. 14, he realized Paton had taken him off the investigation.
On Sept. 16, Penley said he received an email containing a contract to hire Cammack as an outside counsel. Penley said he refused to sign the contract, which means nothing further should have happened with it. Penley said Paxton called and asked him to sign the contract, but he refused, saying there was “no scintilla of evidence.”
Paxton asked to meet with Penley on Sept. 26, 2020 where he then expressed his frustration with his staff not doing what he was telling them to do. Penley testified that he told Paxton there was no state basis for the investigation.
When asked about learning Cammack was hired despite his recommendation, Penley said he was “apoplectic” when he found out Cammack was serving subpoenas and using criminal process to conduct civil discovery.
Penley said after learning about the subpoenas, he and the other whistleblowers were concerned that Nate Paul was not in control of the investigation and decided to turn to the FBI.
Penley said he and the whistleblowers were concerned that they would be fired but they felt like they had no other choice.
On Oct. 2, 2020, Penley was placed on investigation leave by Paxton.
Sept. 11, 2023 at 10:55 a.m
Court resumed.
Sept. 11, 2023 at 10:32 a.m.
Court is in recess until 10:50 a.m.
Sept. 11, 2023 at 9:08 a.m.
Prosecutors called Mark Penley as their first witness on Monday. Penley, who grew up in Denton, worked as a federal prosecutor in the U.S. attorney’s office for the Northern District of Texas before working for Ken Paxton in the Attorney General’s office in 2019.
During his testimony, Penley said he had never heard of Nate Paul before working for the AG’s Office. He also added that he was first made aware of Nate Paul in December 2019.
In December 2019, Penley met with Ken Paxton in a coffee shop in Highland Park Village in Dallas, where Paxton called Nate Paul.
Penley said the conversation lasted about 20-30 minutes.
After the call, Penley said he informed Paxton and Nate Paul that he could not give legal advice because he represented the state of Texas and this case was not a state case. He said Paxton then made several comments about being distrustful of law enforcement and said that he had also been a victim of a corrupt criminal investigation.
About a month later, Penley said he was made aware of a referral shown to him by Jeff Meteer. Penley said he had heard the story before, and that the referral was signed by Nate Paul.
A month later, Penley said Paxton asked him about the status of Nate Paul’s referral, questioning why nothing had been done since it was shown to him in June. Penley said he responded to the Attorney General, saying he “saw no merit to the complaint.”
Penley then testified that Paxton asked him to review a video of an interview with Nate Paul, his attorney, and David Maxwell that was recorded on July 23, 2020. The two watched the video, and Penley said Paxton grew upset that Maxwell was not accepting what was said in the interview. Penley suggested that Paxton did not understand the legal difficulties in investigating a state agency and obtaining a warrant that was under seal at the federal courthouse.
Penley said he met with Nate Paul a total of three times. During the third meeting, he said, “Mr. Paul acted like we didn’t understand who the real boss was.” He added that Paul “bowed up” to employees from the AG’s office and that he was upset when Maxwell called him out for leaking information about the investigation to the media.
Penley testified that he tried to continue to investigate Nate Paul’s claims and asked for all documents involving the case, even saying he reached out “six to seven times,” but was never given the documents.
Penley said he continued to work on Nate Paul’s case because he was “worried Paxton would fire him if he did not get on board.” He also said he felt that Paxton was under Paul’s influence and he was concerned Paxton was being blackmailed or bribed.
Sept. 11, 2023, at 9:05 a.m.
Patrick asked for a moment of silence to be held in remembrance of those who died in the terrorist attacks on September 11, 2001. A short prayer was led by Sen. Brian Birdwell. Birdwell, who was in the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, also delivered a few remarks about the terrorist attacks.
Patrick then reminded the prosecutors and defense attorneys of the time remaining and discussed the plan for the days ahead, saying there will be no more days off until a final resolution is made.
Sept. 11, 2023, at 9:00 a.m.
The Senate was called to session and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick entered the chamber. The jury was then called into the chamber.
(Below is an interactive graphic showing who’s who and how the courtroom is organized.)
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