Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been found not guilty - by his own office - on accusations of bribery made by eight former aides in a report released Tuesday.
Paxton has denied the allegations and has cast blame on those eight employees, all of whom resigned or were fired from the agency. Four of them are currently suing Paxton for retaliation.
The aides accused Paxton of allowing improper influence from real estate investor Nate Paul, who donated to the attorney general's 2018 re-election campaign.
They claimed Paxton granted a series of favors for Paul, allegedly in return for a job for a woman the AG was having an affair with, according to the Dallas Morning News.
'Paxton and [the Office of Attorney General] misused the funds, services and personnel of his office to personally benefit Nate Paul and to benefit himself,' the February 9 complaint alleged.
'Plaintiffs reasonably concluded that Paxton's bizarre, obsessive use of the power of his office to help Nate Paul was an effort to repay Paul for Paul's help with Paxton's home remodel and/or to silence or repay Paul for helping or paying Paxton's mistress, and/or to encourage Paul not to reveal that Paxton had had an affair.'
Paxton's wife, Angela, has served Texas as a state senator since 2019. According to Angela Paxton's campaign website, she and the attorney general have been married since 1986 and have four adult children.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been found not guilty - by his own office - on accusations of bribery made by eight former aides in a decision released Tuesday
Paxton, seen here with his wife State Senator Angela Paxton, is under investigation for granted a series of favors for businessman Nate Paul, allegedly in return for a job for a woman AG Paxton was having an affair with
Paul has been under a lengthy FBI investigation, and the investor's properties in Austin were raided on Aug. 19, 2020.
In a 374-page report with multiple exhibits, Paxton's office found his former employees alleging otherwise have 'no evidence' of a 'quid pro quo.'
'There is no evidence that Nate Paul attempted to bribe AG Paxton,' the report said. 'The Complainants attempt to use a campaign donation as proof of the bribe, however, Paul has made only one campaign donation to AG Paxton in 2018 – not only well before the allegedly improper actions taken by AG Paxton in 2020, but even before the FBI's 2019 raid that formed the gravamen of Nate Paul's criminal complaints.'
Paxton himself speaks out against the former aides accusing him in the report.
'Some of the Complainants operated in an unaccountable manner by not documenting their actions, instructing subordinates not to document their actions, dismissing other employees so that they could have secret meetings, deleting emails, and potentially other acts taken to conceal behaviors, processes, and evidence,' he said.
An attorney for several of the aides, who refer to themselves as 'whistleblowers,' told the Daily Mail in a statement that
