Paxton trial updates, Sept. 14: AG supervisor refutes whistleblower claims
Watch a livestream of the attorney general’s impeachment trial and get the latest updates as senators weigh his political future. Full Story
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Zach Despart
Enterprise and Investigative Reporter
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Zach Despart is an enterprise and investigative reporter focusing on state government. His work on a team investigating the flawed police response to the Uvalde school shooting was awarded the 2024 Collier Prize and was a finalist for a Pulitzer Prize in explanatory reporting. He led the Tribune’s effort to become the first news organization to determine where Texas has built 50 miles of border wall, a project that also found the state struggles with holdout landowners along the route. He previously covered Harris County for the Houston Chronicle, where he reported on corruption, elections, disaster preparedness and the region’s recovery from Hurricane Harvey. An upstate New York native, he received his bachelor’s degree in political science and film from the University of Vermont.
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![Tony Buzbee, a lead defense attorney, listens in as Grant Dorfman, Deputy First Assistant Attorney General at the Texas Office of the Attorney General, answers questions from defense attorney TKTK on the Senate floor during suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton’s trial on Sept. 14, 2023.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
The House has rested its case against Ken Paxton after a chaotic day for the prosecution
The House prosecutors failed to call a star witness and battled with the defense attorneys over allegations the suspended attorney general had been bribed by Nate Paul. Full Story
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![Prosecuting attorney Rusty Hardin sits at the prosecutor’s table after resting the House's case during the seventh day of suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial on Sept. 13, 2023.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Paxton trial, Sept. 13: Woman in alleged affair with Paxton planned to plead the Fifth, doesn’t testify
Watch a livestream of the attorney general’s impeachment trial and get the latest updates as senators weigh his political future. Full Story
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![Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick speaks to both parties moments after House prosecuting attorney Rusty Hardin rested the House's case during the seventh day of suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial on Sept. 13, 2023.]()
Credit: Eddie Gaspar/The Texas Tribune -
Paxton trial, Sept. 7: During new testimony, former AG deputy tears up responding to “rogue” allegations
Former attorney general officials testified that Ken Paxton pushed to release confidential FBI records to friend and donor Nate Paul. They also denied defense attorneys’ assertions that they staged a “mutiny.” Full Story
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![Whistleblower Ryan Vassar tears up during testimony on the third day of suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton's impeachment trial in the Texas Senate on Sept. 7, 2023.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Ken Paxton’s top deputy, the first impeachment witness, describes an attorney general out of control
Jeff Mateer testified that Paxton was so intent on helping Austin real estate investor Nate Paul that he worried the attorney general was being blackmailed. Full Story
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![Whistleblower Jeff Mateer give impassioned testimony about his former boss Ken Paxton in the morning session of Attorney General Ken Paxton's impeachment trial in the Texas Senate on September 6, 2023. (Bob Daemmrich/Pool for the Texas Tribune)]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Texas Senate rejects all motions to dismiss Ken Paxton impeachment charges
The pretrial motions required a majority vote. All but one were rejected by two-thirds of the Senate, suggesting an openness in the chamber to hear the allegations against Paxton. Full Story
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![Senators file into the Senate floor at the beginning of the impeachment trial of suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton on Sept. 5, 2023.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for The Texas Tribune -
Paxton trial, Sept. 5: Suspended AG pleads not guilty to all impeachment articles, leaves before afternoon proceedings
On the first day of the impeachment trial, senators rejected defense attorneys’ attempts to dismiss all 16 articles of impeachment. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick also ruled that Ken Paxton couldn’t be forced to testify. Full Story
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![Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton looks up at the gallery during the first day of his impeachment trial in the Texas Senate chambers at the Texas State Capitol in Austin on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023.]()
Credit: Juan Figueroa/Pool via The Dallas Morning News -
Ken Paxton tried to hide his affair from his wife and voters. It may be his undoing.
The impeachment trial that starts Tuesday is expected to center on Paxton’s infidelity, and could air out the sordid details of the staunch, Christian conservative’s life as he sits just yards away from his wife, and her 30 Senate colleagues. Full Story
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![Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton takes the oath of office for the third time from Gov. Greg Abbott, as his wife, state Sen. Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, holds the Sam Houston bible Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2023.]()
Credit: Bob Daemmrich for the Texas Tribune -
Few Texas Republican voters support Ken Paxton impeachment
Only 28% of Republican respondents agreed that the charges against Texas’ attorney general were warranted, compared to 42% of independents and three-quarters of Democrats, the poll found. Full Story
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![Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton attends a campaign event during a Bulverde Spring Branch Conservative Republicans meeting on Monday evening in Bulverde. Paxton criticized President Joe Biden’s immigration policies, championed voter fraud in Texas and praised the leaked SCOTUS draft opinion that would overturn Roe v. Wade.]()
Credit: Kaylee Greenlee Beal for The Texas Tribune -
“Operation Deep Sea”: How Nate Paul pulled the strings in the attorney general’s office to investigate his enemies
Paul personally chose targets and drafted language for subpoenas issued by Brandon Cammack, an outside lawyer hired by Attorney General Ken Paxton. Paxton hired Cammack to investigate his friend’s complaints after his own deputies advised him against it. Full Story
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![Attorney Brandon Cammack and real estate investor Nate Paul.]()
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