INSIDER
Middleton is the second Republican to join what is expected to be a growing field of candidates angling to succeed Attorney General Ken Paxton as the state’s top legal official.
The vote instructs lawmakers who are negotiating a budget with the Senate to advocate for awarding Paxton the salary he missed while impeached over corruption allegations.
The attorney general positions himself as a disruptor against the Republican establishment embodied in the longtime Senate fixture.
A Texas judge last month ordered Dr. Margaret Carpenter, who practices north of New York City, to pay the penalty for allegedly breaking that state’s law by prescribing abortion medication via telemedicine.
Critics fear increased election prosecutions could intimidate voters and local election officials. Attorney General Ken Paxton has long sought more autonomy over election cases.
Three Republican judges heard oral arguments Wednesday after a lower court blocked Attorney General Ken Paxton’s efforts to depose the charity’s leader.
The state bar had sought to sanction Paxton, which could have carried a punishment ranging from a private reprimand to disbarment.
The state bar sought to take away the law license of Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster over a Texas lawsuit challenging 2020 presidential election results.
The attorney general has agreed not to contest a lawsuit brought by former employees accusing him of retaliation after they said he abused his office.
After the attorney general insisted on the death row inmate’s guilt in a graphic press release, four lawmakers issued a point-by-point rebuttal.
Several local party officials have signed an open letter warning that “grave and deteriorating” fundraising and voter outreach efforts could leave some candidates vulnerable.
Paxton sued Dallas and state fair officials last month, arguing the fair’s private organizer had violated state law by banning firearms on the fairgrounds.
The Texas attorney general’s office searched the home of Cecilia Castellano and a Democratic legislative aide. It said it’s investigating vote harvesting. Activists called it “intimidation.”
The group said that searches the attorney general’s office carried out this week targeted at least six Latinos, including a Democrat running for the Texas House.
The Texas Attorney General is following his familiar playbook by taking the case to a federal judge with a record of rulings against the Biden administration’s agenda.
The decision in the case brought by the Texas Attorney General preempts any future Title IX regulations that extend federal protections to LGBTQ students.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton suspected the hospital was helping Texas kids access puberty blockers or hormone treatments that are outlawed for juveniles.
Richie DeVillier, who owns land east of Houston, said the state owes him damages for constant flooding after Texas made changes to Interstate 10 near his property.
Los residentes presentaron más de 60 quejas en contra de Colony Ridge. No obtuvieron muchas soluciones del estado.
Peruvian President Dina Boluarte has said she rejects the “unconstitutional and discriminatory” way an investigation into allegations of illicit enrichment is being carried out, after police broke down the front door of her house with a battering ram overnight in search of luxury watches.
The Tribune reported last year that a company called Influenceable LLC was paid to recruit influencers to defend Attorney General Ken Paxton over his impeachment.
With his impeachment and securities fraud case behind him, Paxton’s political stock is on the rise.
The lead attorney helping defend Paxton against former top aides is charging $540 an hour.
This is at least the second time Ken Paxton’s office has sought such records from an out-of-state provider since Texas banned transition-related care for kids.
The attorney general accused the judge of “recklessly disregarding legal precedent” after he attempted to end the long-running lawsuit from former staffers.
The Defend Texas Liberty PAC gave just $10,000 in the last two months of 2023 and received no new money from its billionaire funders.
The attorney general has gone on an endorsement spree since his acquittal in his Senate impeachment trial last year, backing primary challengers to the House Republicans who voted to impeach him.
Suspecting the Washington-based hospital of providing gender-affirming care to Texas children, which is now banned in Texas, AG Ken Paxton issued investigative subpoenas demanding medical information.
The four whistleblowers asked the court last month to force the attorney general and his aides to sit for deposition, which would require them to answer questions under oath related to the allegations of bribery and corruption.
Experts argue other assertions made in the lawsuit filing are completely unsubstantiated, such as one claiming that vaccinated people were more likely to die from COVID-19, which Texas health data disputes.
After a report from Media Matters showed advertisements from major brands appeared next to antisemitic posts on X, the company sued the media watchdog group and its reporter. The Texas Attorney General’s Office plans to investigate the nonprofit for potential fraud.
The legal battle stems from the attorney general’s unsuccessful 2020 lawsuit that leaned heavily on discredited claims of election fraud in other states. Paxton’s lawyers argue that the bar’s lawsuit is an attempt to control how he runs his office.
During the impeachment trial, whistleblowers testified they believed Paul to be a criminal and were concerned that Paxton was essentially turning the keys of the office over to him.
The charges stem from accusations that in 2011 Paxton tried to solicit investors in a McKinney technology company without disclosing that it was paying him to promote its stock. The attorney general has pleaded not guilty.
Republicans showed a more clear divide, giving the Senate higher marks than the House for how the attorney general’s impeachment was handled.
Emails obtained by The Texas Tribune show the attorneys were expected to return to work after the impeachment trial ended and their extended absence raised concerns internally about the offices’ ability to function properly.
The whistleblower lawsuit, which argues that four senior staffers were improperly fired in retaliation for reporting Paxton to the FBI, returns to a Travis County trial court for action.
Comptroller Glenn Hegar said he disagreed with Paxton’s interpretation of the law and suggested he seek a ruling from the Texas Supreme Court.
On Monday, the former state employees argued that Paxton has failed to uphold key parts of the settlement agreement, including a $3.3 million payment and a promise to apologize.
Lawyers criticize a provision they say erodes the separation of powers between Texas’ executive branch and its courts. It’s been used repeatedly this year as Texans try to block new state laws from going into effect
The lieutenant governor said that he took just as much from “the other side,” including donors aligned with Texans for Lawsuit Reform, which Paxton has labeled a political enemy.
The radio interviews came the morning after Paxton gave his first post-acquittal interview to Tucker Carlson, telling the former Fox News host he was “re-energized” after the acquittal.
In his first remarks since being acquitted on 16 articles of impeachment, the suspended Texas attorney general blamed Democrats while also taking aim at a number of high-profile Republicans.
“I feel there were six senators who were ready to be the 21st vote,” said Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas. “But they didn’t want to be the 20th vote.”
The impeachment proceedings, and the events that precipitated them, have left the Texas Office of the Attorney General in turmoil. Can Paxton steady the ship of an institution vital to the conservative cause?
The House impeachment managers faced a high bar: convincing enough Republican senators to vote against their own political self-interest.
It marked a screaming milestone in a two-decade political career that has seen Paxton harness the state’s increasingly conservative politics — and later the rise of Donald Trump — to stay in power longer than his vulnerabilities would suggest.
Paxton’s far-right supporters doubled down on their promises for swift retribution against fellow Republicans who supported his removal from office.
Democrats, however, said their GOP colleagues “caved” to outside pressure in voting to acquit and return Ken Paxton to his job as attorney general.
After spending two weeks listening to both sides make their case, Texas Senators voted to acquit Paxton on all 16 articles of impeachment. Because of this vote, Paxton will remain in office.
Only two of 19 Republican Senators voted in favor of convicting for any article — a stark contrast to the more than 70% of House Republicans who impeached the attorney general in May.
Other public officials have begun weighing in after the attorney general was returned to his post as the state’s top lawyer.
Senators begin deliberating in private after defense lawyers and impeachment managers make impassioned pleas after two weeks of trial.
Deliberations are expected to resume at 9 a.m. Saturday. Paxton is accused of misusing his office to help a friend and donor who was under federal investigation.
Senators will hear closing arguments beginning at 9 a.m. Friday, after which they will deliberate in private before emerging to cast votes on whether the attorney general can remain in office.
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.
Drew Wicker, Paxton’s former personal assistant, testified at Paxton’s impeachment trial that his boss used four cell phones and ditched his security to meet with Nate Paul. But Wicker also provided Paxton’s lawyer with a chance to attack a central bribery allegation.
Watch a livestream of the attorney general’s impeachment trial and get the latest updates as senators weigh his political future.
Darren McCarty said the attorney general, his former boss, approached the Mitte Foundation lawsuit with “urgency and anxiety” — and a focus on helping his friend and political donor.
“My heart broke for her,” Katherine “Missy” Cary said of Sen. Angela Paxton, Ken Paxton’s wife. Angela Paxton is disqualified from voting but has to attend the trial.
Mark Penley testified that Paxton made numerous negative comments about the Texas Department of Public Safety because of his 2015 securities fraud case. “He doesn’t trust the [DPS] director and he feels like they ran a corrupt investigation on him,” he said.
One whistleblower testified that Ken Paxton didn’t trust law enforcement after his own securities fraud indictment. Senators could begin deliberating the impeachment charges later this week.
The suspended attorney general’s lawyers focused on disloyalty and attacked evidence, while impeachment managers accused Paxton of excessive and obsessive misconduct. Neither side ignored the politics behind the case.
The former top cop for the attorney general’s office testified that complying with real estate investor Nate Paul’s requests would have amounted to criminal activity. Defense attorneys also questioned whistleblowers about their group texts.
A Virginia town is settling a lawsuit that sprang from a Black and Latino Army lieutenant being pepper sprayed during a traffic stop.
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.”
On the second day of the impeachment trial, former officials in the attorney general’s office say Ken Paxton’s relationship with real estate investor Nate Paul raised alarms. Defense attorney accused the witnesses of “staging a coup.”
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.
Records obtained by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune give deeper insight into how Paxton’s representation denials often pushed agencies to look for outside legal counsel that was ultimately funded by taxpayers.
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.
Under rules previously adopted by the Texas Senate, the trial will feature crucial votes on dismissing articles of impeachment as well as testimony under oath, private deliberations by senator-jurors and votes conducted without debate or discussion.
The articles — including bribery, dereliction of duty and disregard of official duty — do not include four accusations originally adopted by the Texas House.
The Senate Republican and Democratic caucuses also said they will not fundraise as organizations during the trial, which starts Tuesday.
The suspended attorney general has been ordered to appear in the Texas Senate chamber to answer to 16 allegations of misconduct that were approved by the House in May.
Lawyers for the suspended attorney general argue that compelled testimony would violate Paxton’s rights, but House impeachment managers disagree. The issue may be settled shortly after his trial begins.
Drew Wicker testified that he ferried documents to Nate Paul on behalf of his boss and witnessed conversations that suggested Paul was paying for the attorney general’s home renovations.
The Senate, which is conducting the trial, published the exhibits Thursday night. House impeachment managers say Paxton abused his office to help friend and political donor Nate Paul.
Before 30 senators take on their role as impeachment trial jurors, they face a series of momentous decisions on whether to dismiss the charges as requested by the attorney general.
After Paxton’s lawyers sought to dismiss articles of impeachment as unsubstantiated, House managers responded by accusing the suspended attorney general of going to great lengths to cover up his relationship to the real estate investor.
The seven-months-pregnant officer reported contraction-like pains at work, but said she wasn’t allowed to leave for hours. The anti-abortion state is fighting her lawsuit, in part by saying her fetus didn’t clearly have rights.
In just a few decades, the Texas attorney general’s office became a powerhouse in national legal fights over abortion, health care and immigration. Here’s a timeline of how it happened.
If successful, the flurry of legal filings would halt the suspended attorney general’s September impeachment trial before it truly begins in the Texas Senate.
The impeached attorney general appeared in a Houston courtroom, where lawyers from both sides agreed to return in October to set an expected trial date on charges that have been pending since 2015.
Barraging the Obama administration with lawsuits, the Texas attorney general’s office wasn’t just trying to block policies. It was injecting disruptive, overtly Christian legal philosophies into the mainstream, and grooming a generation of conservative legal warriors.
With his election as Texas attorney general, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn planted the seeds of conservatism. Gov. Greg Abbott used his tenure to cultivate them into an aggressive strain of right-wing activism aimed at driving the nation’s courts and laws to the right.
A federal judiciary full of ideological allies is helping Texas block Democratic priorities and advance right-wing legal doctrines. But the bigger prize is conservative control of the rule of law itself.
Central America is experiencing a wave of unrest that is remarkable even for a region whose history is riddled with turbulence.
The Guatemalan government’s clumsy interference with its presidential election has turned a global spotlight on a country whose struggles with deep corruption previously received little international notice.
Guatemala sank deeper into political turmoil as prosecutors targeted a progressive presidential candidate who proved to be surprisingly popular.
