The Texan Podcast

Read more about the Paxton impeachment: https://thetexan.news/paxton_impeachment/

Today, attorneys in the impeachment trial questioned Ray Chester, attorney for the Mitte Foundation; Drew Wicker, a former personal aide to Ken Paxton; and Blake Brickman, the former deputy attorney general for policy and strategic initiatives. 

Laura Olson, the woman with whom Paxton is said to have had an affair, was at the capitol and expected to take the stand, but was deemed “unavailable” in a statement from Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.  

The House Board of Managers rested their case, and the defense called their first witness to the stand.

Read more about the impeachment: https://thetexan.news/paxton_impeachment/

Today, attorneys in the impeachment trial questioned Brandon Cammack for most of the day, the special counselor Paxton retained on behalf of the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) to investigate the complaints of Austin real estate developer Nate Paul against federal authorities. 

Toward the end of the day, some additional witnesses were called to testify, including Joe Brown, who testified about applying for the special counsel job; Kendall Garrison, CEO of Amplify Credit Union; and Darren McCarty, a former employee of the OAG. 

Some big parts of the day included:

• The proceedings started about an hour late. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said that the chamber was ready on time, but that the legal teams had an issue to work out before the proceedings began. 
• Brandon Cammack, who got married a week ago and has yet to honeymoon due to the trial, testified that he was hired by Paxton himself to serve as outside counsel for the OAG. He said the attorney general said he wanted to hire a “special prosecutor” to investigate “potential violations of the Texas Penal Code.”
• Cammack was recommended to Paxton by Michael Wynne, Nate Paul’s lawyer. He said he was “excited” and “flattered” to be working with the OAG.
• “The only person I reported to was Mr. Paxton,” said Cammack when asked about the allegations that he was working for the Travis County District Attorney’s Office. He said he primarily communicated with Paxton via an encrypted messaging app and Proton email addresses.
• Cammack, who issued over 30 grand jury subpoenas in his investigation to evaluate Paul’s allegations against federal authorities, said he got the list of names to be subpoenaed from Wynne and Paul. He said he had never issued a grand jury subpoena at the time.
• Per Cammack, U.S. Marshals showed up at his law office in Houston after he questioned a judge about his deceased wife in his investigation. 
• Cammack voiced his concerns to Paxton and Brent Webster, the first assistant attorney general who replaced Jeff Mateer, at a meeting at a Starbucks in Austin. He testified that Webster informed him there that his contract with the agency was null and void and that he would not be paid for his work. 
• Paxton’s defense pushed back against the line of questioning that asserted Cammack was naive and inexperienced in his role with the OAG.
• Cammack insisted that he never thought he was investigating a “baseless” allegation and said that Paxton did not “pressure” him to reach a particular conclusion. He testified that he was not trying to help or hurt Paul, allegations outlined in one of the articles of impeachment.
• The Houston-based lawyer testified that, “I never got any pushback from anyone at the attorney general’s office or the Travis County District Attorney’s Office” until he received a cease and desist letter from Mateer, the OAG’s first assistant attorney general at the time. 
• Brown, a former assistant U.S. attorney, briefly testified about applying for the special counsel role that Cammack filled.
• Garrison was questioned about the “midnight opinion” allegedly written to help Paul and his business, and testified about Paul defaulting on loans he owed to the credit union.
• McCarty, who was the deputy attorney general for civil litigation at the OAG, resigned from the office but did not join the whistleblower lawsuit. He gave testimony about the attorney general’s intervention in the Mitte Foundation lawsuit. 

Read more about the impeachment: https://thetexan.news/paxton_impeachment/

Today, attorneys in the impeachment trial questioned Mark Penley, called to the stand by the House Board of Managers. Penley served as the Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice at the Attorney General’s Office under Ken Paxton, and is one of the four former employees who joined the lawsuit under the Texas Whistleblowers Act. 

The prosecution then called Katherine “Missy” Cary, Paxton’s former chief of staff, to the stand, a long-time employee of the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) who provided details about Paxton’s affair and the inner workings of the agency.  

Gregg Cox, a former employee of the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, was called to testify, along with Margaret Moore, the former Travis County district attorney herself.  

Some big parts of the day included:

• Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is presiding over the trial, said that time for witness examination should be up by Thursday evening. The Senate would then begin deliberations, and Patrick said there would be no days off until a verdict is reached.
• In regards to Paxton requesting staff to look into Nate Paul’s allegations against federal authorities, Penley testified he thought it was “insane” that the OAG would investigate a U.S. magistrate and federal agents. 
• Penley said Paxton was “under Paul’s influence,” “biased against law enforcement to his detriment,” and that he feared he would be fired by Paxton if he could not convince the attorney general to distance himself from the Austin real estate developer. 
• Paxton and Penley reportedly met in McKinney four days before Penley and his colleagues went to the FBI.
• Penley testified that he had “circumstantial evidence” that the attorney general was being bribed, and Paxton’s defense questioned him as to why he did not tell his boss. The defense argued that Penley, like other whistleblowers, didn’t do his due diligence in investigating Paul’s allegations before reporting Paxton to law enforcement. 
• Cary testified that she overheard a conversation at an Austin restaurant regarding some personal information of the attorney general between a man and a woman she did not recognize. She took a photo of the woman, and spoke privately with Paxton about what she heard. Paxton told her that the woman was his realtor, and did not appear concerned. Cary later found out the woman was Laura Olson, with whom Paxton was having an extramarital affair.
• Recalling a meeting where Paxton, with his wife Sen. Angela Paxton (R-McKinney) in attendance, confessed to the affair in September of 2018, Cary said her “heart broke” for Sen. Paxton and that she believed the affair had ended at that point. She later testified that she found out the affair had continued in the summer of 2019. 
• Cary said that morale among OAG employees was low, particularly among the security detail and travel aides. She testified that Sen. Paxton would call the office to ask about the attorney general’s whereabouts, and that “the staff was sometimes uncomfortable answering those questions.”
• Cox was asked by the prosecution to describe “potential” crimes Paxton may have committed while in office. The defense brought forward the fact that Cox has applied for a job with the OAG after writing a memo outlining Paxton’s potential crimes. 

• Rusty Hardin, attorney for the prosecution, looked to clarify statements Vassar made the day before about not bringing any evidence to the FBI when he reported Paxton with the other employees. Vassar said he meant that he did not bring documents, but that he did bring his “experiences.” 
• Texts from Vassar that joked with another whistleblower that the OAG “might need some activities to keep the kids entertained” after they left the agency were read in front of the jury of senators by the defense. 
• Vassar disagreed with the defense attorneys who alleged he was “trying to shape the media narrative.”
• Vassar said it wouldn’t be true to assert that he altered the letterhead on an OAG document to exclude Paxton’s name.
• Maxwell was up next, and testified that he thought Paxton “was going to get himself indicted” if he did not distance himself from Paul. He claimed “Nate Paul was a criminal, and we shouldn’t be associating with Nate Paul.” 
• The former Texas Ranger said that Paul became “very angry” when Maxwell did not act on his complaints, and argued he would have been guilty of federal crimes of obstruction of justice and interfering with an investigation if he did investigate.
• Just after 4:30 p.m., the Senate adjourned until Monday at 9:00 a.m.

Show off your Lone Star spirit with a free Texas flag hat with an annual subscription to The Texan: https://thetexan.news/subscribe/
 
The Texan’s Weekly Roundup brings you the latest news in Texas politics, breaking down the top stories of the week with our team of reporters who give you the facts so you can form your own opinion. Enjoy what you hear? Be sure to subscribe and leave a review! 
 
Got questions for the reporting team? Email [email protected] — they just might be answered on a future podcast. 
 
This week on The Texan’s Weekly Roundup, the team discusses: 

• The debate over the controversial “forgiveness doctrine” in the Paxton impeachment case
• A U.S. district judge blocking a state law requiring age verification for pornographic websites
• The divide between Texas Republicans and conservatives over the Paxton impeachment
• Nueces County District Attorney Mark Gonzales resigning before his removal trial to run for U.S. Senate
• The 187th anniversary of Sam Houston being elected as the first president of Texas
• A report that a Chinese-owned social media app fostered opposition to a Texas land bill
• Texas’ ERCOT grid triggering emergency conditions but avoiding any rotating outages
• The day the Republic of Texas’ “floating capitol” was sold and disappeared from the historical record
• Almost 30,000 Texas students leaving public school for homeschooling in the 2021-2022 school year
• Texas dove hunting season opening on September 1

Read more about the impeachment: https://thetexan.news/paxton_impeachment/

Today, attorneys in the impeachment trial focused on finishing testimony from Ryan Bangert, one of the former deputy attorneys general who raised criminal allegations against Attorney General Ken Paxton. Ryan Vassar, another former employee of the attorney general’s office, was called to testify next.

Some major highlights of the day included:

• Bangert discussed a lunch he had with Paxton and Austin real estate developer Nate Paul, saying that he had “ethical concerns” about the meeting. Bangert said that during the lunch, Paul detailed his “theory of grievances against the Mitte Foundation” — a charitable organization in litigation against Paul’s business.
• Bangert claimed that it was a “professional death warrant” to bring the allegations against Paxton to the FBI and asserted that he was “constructively discharged” from his position, having his responsibilities stripped from him in the weeks that followed the criminal complaint.
• During the cross-examination, defense attorney Anthony Osso homed in on the allegations made against Paxton about the so-called “midnight opinion” — an informal opinion issued by the office that the whistleblowers say allegedly benefited Nate Paul.
• The prosecution then called Ryan Vassar, another former employee of the attorney general’s office, to the stand. Unlike the first two witnesses, Vassar was fired and joined the lawsuit under the Texas Whistleblowers Act.
• Vassar became visibly emotional when questioned by the prosecution regarding his reaction to being referred to as a “rogue employee” by Paxton.

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The second day of the impeachment trial continued with more testimony from Jeff Mateer, the former first assistant attorney general appointed under Paxton who was one of the eight employees to raise allegations of bribery and abuse of office to the FBI in 2020.

For this episode, The Texan reporters Brad Johnson and Matt Stringer are joined by Patrick Svitek of The Texas Tribune. 

We’ll get into more details of some of these highlights from today:

• Paxton, who left after the lunch break on the first day of the trial, did not return to the chamber for the proceedings.
• Attorneys for the House and Paxton began the day with an agreement on which evidence to pre-admit, and Paxton’s team said that the suspended attorney general has “nothing to hide” and would drop their objection to evidence on the grounds of privileged communication.
• With repeated objections of leading the witness from Paxton attorney Tony Buzbee, House attorney Rusty Hardin questioned Mateer regarding the timeline and reasoning he had when raising allegations to the FBI.
• The first name drop of Anthony Fauci, Texans for Lawsuit Reform, and George P. Bush.
• Mateer said he believed Mr. Paxton was “under the influence” or being “blackmailed” because he could not explain why he was working so hard to help Nate Paul, but that Mateer ultimately became convinced it was due to an extramarital affair.
• During the cross-examination, Buzbee attempted to draw a distinction between state code and the first article of impeachment regarding the attorney general’s authority to become involved in lawsuits related to charitable organizations — an apparent attempt to throw that article into doubt.
• Buzbee accused Mateer and the other whistleblowers for staging a coup against Attorney General Paxton.
• After finishing the questioning of Mateer late in the day, the House impeachment team called another former employee, Ryan Bangert, to the stand.

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We’ve completed the first day of the impeachment trial — and a lot has already happened. 

Here’s some highlights:

• The Senate voted to deny all of Attorney General Paxton’s motions to dismiss the articles of impeachment, with all motions receiving only six to ten affirmative votes from some Republicans.
• Motions needed a majority of 16 to be approved, while conviction on any of the articles of impeachment will need 21 votes.
• Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick gave more specifics about the timeline of the trial, saying that he expects to meet every weekday from 9 AM to 6 PM, and possibly on Saturdays except for this upcoming Saturday.
• In a decision on another motion, Patrick ruled that Paxton cannot be compelled to testify at trial, highlighting the similarities between criminal trials and the impeachment trial.
• Patrick, his legal advisor for the trial, senators, Senate staff, and witnesses were all sworn in under oath.
• Attorney General Ken Paxton pleaded not guilty to all articles of impeachment.
• House General Investigating Chair Andrew Murr gave the opening statement for the impeachment managers, while attorneys Tony Buzbee and Dan Cogdell gave opening statements on behalf of Attorney General Ken Paxton.
• Jeff Mateer, the former first assistant attorney general and one of the eight whistleblowers, was called to testify by the House Impeachment Managers.
• Debate over excluding evidence from the trial because of “privileged communication.”

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Welcome to Inside the Impeachment: Paxton on Trial.

In this special podcast series from The Texan, we're delving into the historic impeachment trial of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, accused of bribery and abuse of office — charges that have set the stage for one of the most riveting political sagas in the Lone Star State.

Inside the Impeachment offers an exclusive backstage pass to the trial’s drama, strategy, and real-time developments. Whether you’re a political junkie or simply curious about the inner workings of Texas governance, this podcast is your front-row seat to history in the making. 

What can you expect?

• Daily debriefs during the trial, starting September 5th
• In-depth analyses of arguments from both sides
• Background context to help you follow the proceedings
• Expert interviews and insider insights 

Ahead of our daily podcasts at the start of the trial, we're releasing our first three episodes to give you background on everything you need to know to follow the trial.

Look out for our daily episodes as the trial begins this week.

Show off your Lone Star spirit with a free Texas flag hat with an annual subscription to The Texan: https://thetexan.news/subscribe/
 
The Texan’s Weekly Roundup brings you the latest news in Texas politics, breaking down the top stories of the week with our team of reporters who give you the facts so you can form your own opinion. Enjoy what you hear? Be sure to subscribe and leave a review! 
 
This week on The Texan’s Weekly Roundup, the team discusses: 

• Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick appointing a justice to help him preside over Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial
• A Travis County judge declaring the field preemption bill unconstitutional
• The Office of the Attorney General removing a judge’s block on Texas’ child gender modification ban
• House District 29 Rep. Ed Thompson not running for re-election in 2024
• The steps Texas has taken in its three-year fight against the ESG movement sweeping the investing world
• The Texas State Historical Association striking a balance between members on its board
• The ERCOT power grid’s slew of conservation requests amid the Texas heat spell
• Katy ISD announcing changes to how it will handle students’ “preferred pronouns” and bathroom use
• The 5th Circuit Court of Appeals siding with Texas against the Nuclear Regulatory Commission
• A rare earth mineral mining company leasing land from the State of Texas being sued by its investors
• School districts suing the Texas Education Agency over its plan to “refresh” its district rating system
• And, we give insight into our new podcast series, Inside the Impeachment: Paxton on Trial