Ken Paxton impeachment trial live updates: Paxton warned about affair - Houston Chronicle

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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's impeachment trial continues today in the Texas Senate and could result in his expulsion from state office. The third-term Republican is accused of misconduct, including accepting bribes from an Austin real estate developer and campaign donor. On Friday, Paxton's former top cop warned the AG he would 'get himself indicted' if he kept helping the donor.

Follow along below for live updates and analysis from Hearst Newspapers reporters covering Paxton's trial, including key moments and witness statements. To support our journalism, please consider becoming a subscriber of the Houston Chronicle or the San Antonio Express-News.

Former chief of staff warned Paxton about alleged affair damaging morale

Attorney General Ken Paxton’s former chief of staff warned him in 2018 that his participation in a secret affair was harming staff morale and could lead to him becoming ethically compromised, Katherine "Missy" Cary testified Monday afternoon.

Throughout the spring and summer of 2018, Cary said she received complaints from members of Paxton’s Department of Public Safety security detail as well as his travel aides that they were working strange or excessive hours because he was conducting a secret affair. Paxton’s number two, Jeff Mateer, also expressed morale issues, Cary said. They felt concerned about Paxton’s behavior and that the work was not state-approved or related to state business.

At times, Angela Paxton, who was elected to the Texas Senate in November 2018, would call the office to ask about her husband’s location or schedule. Staff were uncomfortable answering those questions due to the affair, Cary said.

In the summer of that year, Cary met privately with Paxton in her office, where she told him she’d worked for other public officials that had dealt with similar situations.

“We talked about the risk involved in secrets of this magnitude that began to bleed over into the work of the Office of the Attorney General,” she said. “These things can open one up to bribery, misuse of office, misuse of state time.”

This led to a fall meeting at Paxton’s campaign headquarters with his top political and state aides where he admitted the affair and apologized, Cary recalled. Angela Paxton grew tearful, and Cary said her “heart broke for her.”

Afterward, she said, “I thought this type of behavior was out of his life for good.”

But then in 2020, Cary learned the affair had continued, and she learned the identity of the woman -- Laura Olson -- by running into her at an official function.

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is presiding over the trial, called for a break in proceedings in the midst of Cary’s testimony. She will re-take the stand when they come back.

The affair is central to Paxton’s alleged motivation in the impeachment case: Paxton is accused of providing special legal access to real estate developer Nate Paul in exchange for bribes, including a job for the alleged girlfriend.

—Taylor Goldenstein

Paxton's former chief of staff, quiet since 2020, takes the stand

Paxton’s former chief of staff, Katherine "Missy" Cary, has taken the stand in his historic impeachment trial.

Cary, a lawyer who worked at the attorney general’s office for more than 20 years, is the first witness to take the stand who was not among the eight staff who reported Paxton to law enforcement for alleged corruption. She has not spoken out publicly since leaving the office in late 2020.

—Allie Morris

Paxton's lawyer questions why aide didn't look more into Paul's claim

Defense attorney J. Mitchell Little honed in on whistleblower Mark Penley’s contention that looking into Nate Paul’s allegations of FBI misconduct would have been obstruction of justice.

Little brought up the case of a former FBI agent who was sentenced to probation for altering a document related to a Donald Trump investigation, and pressed Penley on why never even made a phone call to the FBI to evaluate Paul’s claim that a search warrant used to raid his home had been altered.

“How hard would that have been to do?” Little asked.

“It would have been problematic in my view,” Penley said.

“To call the US Attorney's office and say we have any belief that a career AUSA (Assistant U.S. Attorney) would be altering search warrants is crazy, especially when they have an ongoing investigation that's privileged,” Penley said.

Little also cited previous federal appellate court rulings that conclude that obstruction of justice does not apply to ongoing FBI investigations.

—Taylor Goldenstein

Top aide describes AG's conduct as 'outrageous'

Penley described in detail a tense meeting he had with Paxton on Sept. 26, 2020, in which the former deputy attorney general for criminal justice allegedly advised his boss to stop the “very dangerous investigation” into real estate developer Nate Paul’s allegations of law enforcement misconduct.

“There was no ethical basis to continue the investigation,” Penley recalled telling the attorney general. “In fact, I felt it was unethical to continue. I felt that Nate Paul was trying to manipulate me, (another Paxton aide) and the attorney general to do an investigation that had no merit, and we shouldn't be doing it.”

Penley said he warned the attorney general that continuing the investigation could prompt a “media scandal” and “turn into a criminal charge against him.”

Paxton then allegedly told Penley for the first time that he had already retained an outside counsel to conduct the investigation, Houston attorney Brandon Cammack, who had been on the job for two weeks. Penley said he told the attorney general that he would not supervise Cammack, and Paxton allegedly replied, “Don’t worry, I will.”

Penley said he urged Paxton to cut ties with Cammack, but Paxton defended the hire and described his own distrust of law enforcement. Paxton allegedly told Penley: “You don’t know what it feels like to be the target of a corrupt law enforcement investigation.”

Paxton allegedly said that he did not trust the director of the Department of Public Safety and believed that the agency “ran a corrupt investigation on him” on an unrelated matter, Penley testified.

A few days after the meeting, Penley and other employees took their concerns to the FBI. He was later fired.

When asked whether he would do anything differently, Penley said he would not, “because it was the right thing to do and the only thing we could do, other than stand by silently and let crimes be committed.”

“The agency was being abused, the laws were being abused,” Penley said. “The behavior and the conduct of the attorney general of Texas were outrageous.”

—Cayla Harris

Whistleblower says Paxton was under developer's influence

Mark Penley, former Texas deputy attorney general for criminal justice, testified that Paxton repeatedly encouraged him to investigate outlandish claims lodged by real estate developer Nate Paule despite a lack of evidence.

Penley said he met several times with Paul and Paul’s attorney who alleged a group of federal officials including two assistant U.S. attorneys, a magistrate judge and a number of investigators had worked together to illegally search Paul’s home and properties.

Experts within the Office of the Attorney General could not corroborate Paul’s allegations of misconduct, Penley testified. When he informed Paul the investigation would close due to a lack of evidence, Paul grew angry.

“Mr Paul acted like we didn’t understand who the real boss was,” Penley said. “It wasn't the attorney general, it was him.”

Penley said he spent months looking into the claims and warned Paxton they lacked merit. The attorney general repeatedly asked Penley for status updates about the investigation, Penley said, showing far more interest in it than any other in Penley’s time in the role.

He came to believe that Paxton was “under Mr. Paul’s influence.”

“My concerns that he either had been bribed or had been blackmailed or somehow had been controlled by Mr. Paul increased over time,” Penley said.

—Edward McKinley

Senate could begin deliberating as early as Thursday

The Texas Senate will decide whether to remove Paxton from office as early as this week, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said.

Starting today, Texas senators “will not take a day off” until they reach a final decision, said Patrick, who is acting as judge in the trial.

Each side has about 14 hours remaining to question witnesses. That clock will likely run out by Thursday morning, Patrick said, and then both sides will have an hour for rebuttal and another hour for closing remarks.

“I want to be very clear that one side or the other could have time left that the other could not respond to,” Patrick said. “Those are the rules that both sides proposed and agreed to. So it's up to you to strategize and manage your time properly.”

He said the Senate could begin deliberating late Thursday or Friday, and senators will continue to meet every day until they take a vote on every article of impeachment.

“From this moment forward, no off days until the trial, the deliberations and the decision is given,” Patrick said.

House managers then called their next witness, Mark Penley, the former deputy attorney general for criminal justice. Penley, one of the whistleblowers who accused Paxton of misusing his office to benefit Austin real estate tycoon Nate Paul, was fired in 2020.

He was one of four whistleblowers who filed a lawsuit against the attorney general’s office alleging retaliation for reporting Paxton’s alleged crimes to law enforcement.

—Cayla Harris

After one week, all eyes on who will take the stand

The Texas Senate is set to gavel in at 9 a.m. for the fifth day of Paxton’s impeachment trial over allegations that he accepted bribes and abused the power of his office to help real estate developer Nate Paul.

The first half of the trial, which began last Tuesday, focused on testimony from four of Paxton’s former top aides who reported his alleged wrongdoing to the FBI.

Paxton’s former top cop said on Friday that he had warned his boss Paul was “a criminal” and “if he didn’t get away from this individual and stop doing what he’s doing, he was going to get himself indicted.” Meanwhile, Paxton’s allies seized on testimony by another former aide who said the whistleblowers “had no evidence that we could point to” when they went to the FBI, a statement he later sought to clarify.

It’s unclear who will take the stand to kick off this week’s testimony.

Each side has 27 hours total to make its case. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is presiding over the trial, said Friday afternoon that both sides had used around 15 to 16 hours. He predicted the proceedings would likely be “past the halfway mark” by the end of the day.

Paxton appeared in person for the start of his trial on Tuesday but did not return after lunch for the start of opening arguments. The third-term Republican was absent the rest of the week. He is suspended from office pending the trial's outcome.

—Jasper Scherer