Last fall, eight senior staffers accused Paxton of using the agency to benefit real estate developer and campaign contributor Nate Paul. The FBI is investigating their claims.
The agency’s report declared that Paxton’s actions regarding Paul “were indeed lawful” and that all allegations against him were “either factually incorrect or legally deficient.” While the report confirmed the attorney general was personally involved in matters before his agency that involved Paul, it said there was “no evidence” of a bribe or quid pro quo.
The report is not signed and its author is unknown. It is unclear why Paxton’s agency did not seek outside lawyers to undertake the investigation in order to avoid the appearance of a conflict of interest.
Paxton’s spokesman did not answer questions about how many work hours or taxpayer dollars went into producing it.
The report — 59 pages plus more than 300 pages of documents attached — is the most full-throated defense of Paxton nearly a year after the explosive accusations against him emerged. It comes as Republican is gearing up for his first contested primary campaign since taking office in 2015.
But the report offers no new insight into how Paxton knows Paul, and why the attorney general became personally involved in his legal disputes. Instead, it lobs new allegations of wrongdoing against the U.S. Attorney’s office, a private lawyer and countless others — with little evidence.
Several people named in the report said they were not interviewed or alerted before its release. Paxton’s accusers called it “full of half-truths, outright lies, and glaring omissions.”
The agency released the report via email early Tuesday. In a one sentence explanation, spokesman Alejandro Garcia said the document is the product of a 10-month review and “evaluates allegations made against the Attorney General.”
Throughout the report, its unnamed author sought to absolve Paxton of any wrongdoing and point the blame back at senior staff who accused him of crimes. While its internal investigation is ongoing, the report noted, the agency has already concluded Paxton was wholly in the right.
“AG Paxton’s actions were lawful, and consistent with his legal duties and prior actions taken by Attorneys General of Texas. AG Paxton committed no crime,” the report stated.
The report went on to tackle four different instances where Paxton allegedly intervened on Paul’s behalf: a public records battle, a dispute with a charity, a legal opinion regarding foreclosures during the pandemic and a probe Paul requested into the FBI. Paxton’s involvement in some of these instances may have ultimately benefited Paul, it acknowledged, but the report concluded the attorney general acted within his authority.
“The fact that an action may help a donor, friend or acquaintance by itself is not evidence of a crime,” the report noted. “No law or rule prevents the Attorney General from taking actions in cases involving a past donor.”
It added: “There is no evidence of any bribe or criminal undue influence.”
The report supported Paxton for bringing on an outside attorney to take over the probe Paul requested into the FBI, which raided the developer’s home in summer 2019, and stated the Travis County District Attorney assisted this lawyer with securing subpoenas.
Ultimately, the document shifts the blame onto senior staff, saying they broke the law in their final days at the agency. These employees, who later accused Paxton of abuse of office, leaked confidential information, deleted records and urged investigators not to keep notes of their findings, the report alleges.
The report also lobs new accusations against several other individuals, including a federal prosecutor it accuses of inappropriately intervening in the legal dispute with the charity. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas and FBI declined to comment.
Hundreds of pages of emails, court filings and criminal complaints are attached. But the report only gives the names of a few individuals who were interviewed, including Amy Meredith and Mindy Montford. Both were involved in the investigation as employees at the Travis County District Attorney’s Office.
Now, Meredith and Montford work for Paxton.
Several other people named in the report, however, say the information that’s presented is inaccurate.
All eight employees who accused Paxton of wrongdoing last year resigned or were fired from the agency. Four are now suing Paxton for retaliation, and have accused him of swapping political favors for Paul’s help remodeling his home and getting a job for a woman with whom the attorney general was allegedly having an affair.
In a statement, the accusers’ attorneys said the takeaway from the report is that “although Ken Paxton remains under active federal investigation, the people who still work for Paxton say he did nothing wrong.”
“Notably, whoever in Paxton’s office wrote this report was not willing to put their name on it,” they added.
The report stated it would not discuss the allegations regarding the remodel or alleged affair in the whistleblower lawsuit.
Steve Lemmon, an attorney whose involvement in cases involving Paul was labeled “concerning” in the report, said he was not contacted by Paxton’s office prior to its release.
Lemmon’s firm represented a credit union that received a subpoena from the outside attorney Paxton hired.
“I would like General Paxton to explain why his special prosecutor sought my phone records and those of other lawyers and why a tracking device was placed on my truck at around the same time,” Lemmon said.
The outside attorney, Brandon Cammack, was also not contacted regarding the report, according to his attorney Andy Drumheller.
Travis County District Attorney Margaret Moore, who left office at the end of last year, answered a call Tuesday but did not answer any questions, citing an illness. Her successor, José Garza, did not comment on the report but confirmed most of the individuals mentioned therein are no longer with his office.
The report could play a role in the ongoing whistleblower lawsuit against Paxton, according to UNT Dallas College of Law Assistant Professor Michael Maslanka.
The allegations against the staffers, if true, could hinder their ability to recoup damages or blunt their effectiveness to gain sympathy with the jury. But Maslanka said the report could also hurt Paxton, especially if he is caught giving inconsistent statements.
“Who did this? If state funds were spent, the public has a right to know,” Maslanka said. “There’s no way we can judge the credibility of this report without knowing its source.”
In a separate legal matter, Paxton was indicted in 2015 and has been facing three felony charges since then for allegedly defrauding investors in a McKinney tech startup. He has pleaded not guilty to those charges and has yet to go to trial in that case.
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