Per the Austin American-Statesman today:
Top aides of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton have asked federal law enforcement authorities to investigate allegations of improper influence, abuse of office, bribery and other potential crimes against the state’s top lawyer.
In a one-page letter to the state agency’s director of human resources, obtained Saturday by the American-Statesman and KVUE-TV, seven executives in the upper tiers of the office said that they are seeking the investigation into Paxton “in his official capacity as the current Attorney General of Texas.”
My first thought was that it might have something to do with the governor’s awful order to limit each county to a single ballot drop-off location. But that’s only because it’s the most recent Texas GOP skullduggery that I know of. Nothing about this story otherwise relates.
Each of the execs, according to the letter, has direct knowledge of the alleged crimes, though it does not provide details. They say that they have provided statements to “appropriate law enforcement.”
The letter was sent last Thursday.
On Friday, Paxton’s #2 suddenly resigned.
First Assistant Attorney General of Texas resigns
Jeff Mateer, the First Assistant Attorney General of Texas, resigned from his position in the state government on Friday, according to multiple sources within the Attorney General’s Office.
Mateer was first appointed to the position by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in April of 2016.
Before joining the AG, Mateer had a comfortable position at First Liberty Institute, one of the many “Christian” fascist non-profits dedicated to furthering the American Taliban’s disgusting dream. There has been no explanation for his sudden departure except to say that he will be returning to First Liberty where he will continue to work towards putting ever more “conservative” judges on the federal bench.
It’s as though he’s been smuggled out to some faraway madrassa to hide until things cool off. Or, did he also see whatever wrongdoing was happening, and decided to bug out? Perhaps one of the seven signatories of the letter will be more forthcoming about Mateer’s possible role in this.
Paxton’s office released the following statement:
The complaint filed against General Paxton [sic] was done to impede on [sic] 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.
Ah, so it was the other guys who were breaking the law? Got it. I’m sure they will get to the bottom of this.