Attorney General agrees to give $3.3M and an apology to ex-aides
The Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, agreed to pay $3.3 million in a settlement with four former senior aides who said he had retaliated against them after they accused him of corruption and other crimes.
Paxton agreed not only to the payment — which would come from state funds — but also to the text of an apology to the men, conservative lawyers who had once been in some of the state's top legal positions.
“Attorney General Ken Paxton accepts that plaintiffs acted in a manner that they thought was right and apologizes for referring to them as `rogue employees,'” said a mediated settlement agreement filed with the Texas Supreme Court on Friday.
The case had been among the legal troubles hanging over Paxton, a Republican whose political survival was maintained by his close relation to former President Donald Trump and who has used his office to try to challenge the results of the 2020 election. In addition to the lawsuit by the aides, Paxton still faces a separate criminal indictment in a securities fraud case from 2015. Paxton has denied wrongdoing in that case.
For a time, the multiple accusations of malfeasance had appeared to weaken Paxton politically, and he found himself in a stiff primary battle from several well-funded Republican challengers, including George P. Bush, a son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush and a statewide officeholder in Texas at the time.
But Paxton prevailed in the primary, seemingly impervious to the attacks as he closely aligned himself with Trump and began to use his office to mount frequent legal challenges to actions by the Biden administration. He was reelected to a third term by a wide margin in November.
“I have reached a settlement agreement to put this issue to rest,” Paxton said in a statement on Friday. “I have chosen this path to save taxpayer dollars and ensure my third term as attorney general is unburdened by unnecessary distractions.”
The mediated settlement agreement still must be finalized, and notes that it is contingent on “necessary approvals for funding,” which must still come from the Texas Legislature.
A federal investigation, opened as a result of the aides' accusations, has not resulted in any charges.
The allegations of corruption and retaliation first surfaced in 2020, after several senior members of Paxton's staff wrote a letter urging an investigation into the actions of their boss. The aides accused Paxton of using the attorney general's office to serve the interests of a wealthy real estate investor in Austin, Nate Paul, who was a friend and political donor.
Four of the aides — Ryan Vassar, a former deputy attorney general for legal counsel; Mark Penley, a former deputy attorney general for criminal justice; James Blake Brickman, a former deputy attorney general for policy; and David Maxwell, a former director of the law enforcement division — brought their concerns to the FBI and the Texas Rangers. The four told investigators that Paxton may have been guilty of bribery, abusing his office and obstructing a criminal investigation, among other potential criminal acts.
According to legal filings in the case, the aides had also relayed their concerns to the attorney general's office; several weeks later, they were all fired. The aides filed suit after that, accusing Paxton of retaliating against them.