New Paxton impeachment files detail interventions, secret trips, donor’s ‘shell’ companies

AUSTIN, Texas – Shell companies. Secret Uber trips. Payments to a man previously convicted of fraud.

Thousands of pages of documents released late Thursday purport to reveal the depth of the relationship between Ken Paxton and Nate Paul, the real estate developer at the center of the attorney general’s impeachment case.

The slew of exhibits, filed by lawyers leading the impeachment case against Paxton, include interview transcripts, texts and emails, lawsuit filings and financial statements. The three volumes total almost 4,000 pages.

The documents provide new details of Paul and Paxton’s ties, include legal filings alleging many of Paul’s businesses were “shell” companies and reveal more insight into accusations that Paxton tried to conceal visits to a woman with whom he allegedly had an affair. The evidence goes to the heart of the impeachment allegations against the attorney general: that Paxton used his power to help Paul thwart a federal investigation into his business, which had been raided by the FBI in 2019, and that Paul bribed Paxton by funding a home remodel and giving a job to the woman.

The attorney general was impeached in May based on these allegations and faces a trial in the Texas Senate, beginning Sept. 5, to determine whether he is removed from office.

In one of the most consequential newly-released documents, Paxton’s second-in-command at the time wrote that he repeatedly told the attorney general that Paul was using the agency as a “smokescreen” to divert from his own legal troubles. Paxton rebuffed the concerns, according to the memo, expressing camaraderie with Paul because they had both been the targets of law enforcement probes.

Paxton faces criminal securities fraud charges that have been pending for years.

Paxton “talked about his personal case, and told me I don’t understand what it feels like to be the target of a ‘corrupt investigation,’ ” then-First Assistant Attorney General Jeff Mateer wrote in a memo dated Sept. 30, 2020.

“I believe that Paul is seeking to use the name and authority of this agency to manipulate our office into conducting a criminal investigation of federal prosecutors and possible law enforcement agents without any supporting evidence, solely for his personal benefit,” Mateer added.

Newly-public text messages in the document dump show Paxton sent around $121,000 from his blind trust to a building company linked to an associate of Paul’s who’d spent time in prison for fraud.

The transfer was made at the same time that Mateer and other top deputies reported Paxton to the FBI for alleged bribery and abuse of office.

The filings further detail Paxton’s alleged affair with a woman named Laura Olson and her employment with Paul’s company. Olson was to earn $65,000 annually working for Paul, according to contract documents in the filings.

And never-before-seen documents released by ridesharing company Uber appear to show Paul created an alias account for Paxton under the name “Dave P.” The impeachment lawyers say Paxton used this account to visit a woman with whom he was allegedly having an extramarital affair.

Paxton has denied any wrongdoing. In their own tranche of recent filings, Paxton’s defense team have argued the impeachment articles against their client should be thrown out and said any evidence detailing behavior before this year should not be considered. They also denied that Paxton ever solicited or received a bribe, and argued the impeachment lawyers have not proved that he did.

Paxton is suspended without pay pending the outcome of the Senate trial.