Regardless of how you feel about it, the Paxton news wagon seems to be picking up speed as it barrels ahead toward Sept. 5, when his trial is scheduled to begin. Thursday night, a trove of documents related to the impeachment was released by the Senate. With that colorful collection of docs, we were provided a glimpse into Paxton’s life and dealings he certainly did not want us to have.
Over the course of more than 3,700 pages, the tight nature of Paxton's relationship with real estate investor and friend Nate Paul was made more clear. One of the more notable exhibits released by the Senate contains emails showing how Paul, a Paxton campaign donor, and his lawyer had a special prosecutor approved by the AG to look into some of Paul’s business rivals and even some law enforcement officials who had raided Paul's home.
And speaking of relationships that are getting Paxton into hot water, The Texas Tribune highlighted another exhibit in the collection that sheds light on Paxton’s marriage:
“Trip records obtained from Uber showing an account Paul created under the alias ‘Dave P,’ which Paxton used to travel to the home of Paul and the apartment of the woman with whom the attorney general was allegedly having an extramarital affair. Paxton is married to state Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney.”
Texas Monthly recapped its own highlights of the impeachment document dump. When discussing Paxton’s alleged affair and some of his high-tone tastes, the magazine noted, “But despite the appeal of the high life, Paxton also seems to have a thing for fast food, stopping at or holding meetings at Church’s fried chicken, Dunkin’, and Panera Bread.”
As intriguing as all that is, that was a few days ago. If life has come at Paxton fast in recent months, newsy tidbits from his impending trial come at us even faster.
Although we won’t know who has been called as witnesses until the trial is underway, there are some pretty safe bets as to who was on the list submitted to the Senate on Tuesday. The Dallas Morning News identified 13 individuals it says stand the greatest chances of being called to testify. Included in the DMN’s guesses are whistleblowing staffers, Nate Paul and Laura Olson, the woman with whom Paxton is accused of having an affair.
On Friday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who will preside over the impeachment proceedings, announced he was appointing Marc Brown as his adviser for the trial. But Brown, a former judge, declined the appointment on Sunday. As Fox 4 reported, “In a letter, he [Brown] said he recalled that he and wife donated to Eva Guzman's campaign in 2021. At the time, Guzman was running for attorney general against Paxton.”
There may not be an attorney in Texas who loves the spotlight more than the man Paxton hired as his lawyer, Tony Buzbee. And because of that it’s not a shock to learn that the controversial Houston lightning rod already has his sights set on a new, post-impeachment role. On Monday, the Houston Chronicle reported that Buzbee, who unsuccessfully ran for Houston mayor in 2019, will run for the city’s District G seat.
Buzbee has also unsuccessfully attempted to have 19 of the 20 articles of impeachment against Paxton dismissed.
The suspended attorney general has been relatively quiet, but he’s not shy about letting his social media posts do the talking for him. And he’s also not hiding his distaste for the Republicans he feels are responsible for setting him on his current path to impeachment, including Dade Phelan, the Texas speaker of the House. Phelan and Paxton had a highly public battle during the week leading up to his May suspension. Paxton demanded that the speaker step down after video of Phelan appearing to slur his words on the House floor became public.“The Texas Heist” it’s real! Phony Republicans are subverting real Republicans. A coup in the #txlege. RINOs on the attack. New Documentary https://t.co/HaNysUNbfK @texasscorecard @kenpaxtontx #TexasHeist #DrunkDade#TexasDirtvDoz pic.twitter.com/MC14gfSnpg
— Grant Stinchfield (@stinchfield1776) August 20, 2023
On Aug. 20 on X (formerly Twitter), Paxton reposted a video from conservative podcaster Grant Stinchfield saying, “Did you know that Republicans in Texas are under attack by fellow, so-called Republicans?” Paxton is later featured in the clip adding “the most hated people in the whole House are conservative Republicans.”
In that same post, Paxton included the hashtag #DrunkDade.
