The allegations against the state’s top attorney include bribery and abuse of office among other violations.
In the letter requesting an investigation, the staffers say they “ha[ve] knowledge of facts relevant to these potential offenses and ha[ve] provided statements concerning those facts to the appropriate law enforcement.”
Paxton’s office issued a statement thereafter, saying, “The complaint filed against Attorney General Paxton was done to impede an ongoing investigation into criminal wrongdoing by public officials including employees of this office. Making false claims is a very serious matter and we plan to investigate this to the fullest extent of the law.”
“At this time, we will not comment further since this is an ongoing investigation,” the Office of the Attorney General told The Texan when asked for comment.
The letter further adds, “We have a good faith belief that the attorney general is violating federal and/or state law including prohibitions related to improper influence, abuse of office, bribery and other potential criminal offenses.”
Paxton has been under investigation for alleged securities fraud since 2016.
In his official capacity, Paxton has been active in a number of litigations over issues ranging from mail-in voting and other election-related concerns, as well as the latest challenge to Obamacare which is scheduled to come before the Supreme Court of the United States this fall.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to include comment from the Office of the Attorney General and the letter.
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Brad Johnson
Brad Johnson is a senior reporter for The Texan and an Ohio native who graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 2017. He is an avid sports fan who most enjoys watching his favorite teams continue their title drought throughout his cognizant lifetime. In his free time, you may find Brad quoting Monty Python productions and trying to calculate the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow.
