In the fall of 2020, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton faced a mutiny. Seven high-ranking staffers suspected that the stateās chief law-enforcement officer was using the powers of his office to benefit an Austin real-estate developer named Nate Paul, who had given generously to the Republicanās reelection campaign. The staffers put their concerns in writing, shared them with the FBI, and asked for a meeting with their boss, a major Trump ally. Paxton fired four of them instead (the rest resigned), and issued a statement through his office stating that he was being targeted by ārogue employees.ā In response, they filed a lawsuit alleging wrongful termination. The lawsuit and the whistleblower complaint they shared with the FBI described a pattern of truly bizarre behavior on the part of one of the most powerful lawyers in America. As I reported in a profile of Paxton :
Citing Paxtonās āfranticā and āobsessiveā activity, his penchant for cycling through personal āburnerā phones, and his closeness with Paul, they feared that Paxton was performing his duties āunder duress.ā In the wrongful termination lawsuit, they speculated that the moves might have been āan effort to repay Paulā for a $25,000 donation to Paxtonās reelection campaign. Their most intriguing theory was one that cut at the core of the Paxtonsā power-couple brand: Sometime in 2019 or 2020, they stated, Paxton had admitted that heād had an extramarital affair with a former aide to a Republican state senatorāand Paul had subsequently given the aide a job. (In a deposition in late 2020 as part of the ongoing litigation with the charity, Paul confirmed that Paxton had recommended the woman.) The whistleblowers āreasonably concluded,ā they stated in their lawsuit, that Paxtonās desperate need to cover up the alleged affair might explain his behavior.
The lawsuit was filed more than two years ago. The case dragged on, with Paxtonās lawyers arguing that the whistleblower law didnāt apply to the office of the attorney general. Paxton’s office released its own investigation purporting to exonerate him of any wrongdoing. But on Friday, Paxton announced a settlement: although he would not admit any wrongdoing, he would delete the press release in which he smeared the staffers as ārogue employees,ā and the plaintiffs would receive $3.3 million. Per Paxtonās statement:
After over two years of litigating with four ex-staffers who accused me in October 2020 of āpotentialā wrongdoing, I have reached a settlement agreement to put this issue to rest. I have chosen this path to save taxpayer dollars and ensure my third term as Attorney General is unburdened by unnecessary distractions. This settlement achieves these goals. I look forward to serving the People of Texas for the next four years free from this unfortunate sideshow.
Hereās the kicker, though: The damages wonāt be paid out by Ken Paxton; theyāre supposed to be paid from state funds, which means that the settlement will have to be approved by the legislature. As the Texas Tribune notes, thatās not necessarily as straightforward as it sounds:
After the tentative agreement was made public, state Rep. Jeff Leach, the Republican from Plano who oversees the House Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence Committee, said he was ātroubled that hardworking taxpayers might be on the hook for this settlement between the Attorney General and former employees of his office.ā
This is a good outcome for the ex-staffers, of course, who get back pay and an apology. But itās also a pretty good outcome for Ken Paxton, considering the position he was in two years ago, when he was facing allegations of corruption and an affair, with the FBI reportedly investigating, and a felony securities-fraud indictment hanging over his head. Americaās most MAGA attorney general has since won reelection by defeating a well-funded statewide official who happened to be George W. Bushās nephew, and heās now offloaded the costs of his legal battle to taxpayers. The FBI doesnāt exactly publish running updates of its investigations, but the DOJ has not produced any charges against Paxton. As for that securities fraud indictment? Well, itāll turn eight years old in July.