TEXAS AG IMPEACHMENT DAY 6: Charity Suit Intervention ‘Unfounded and Unethical,’ Criminal Process Used to Benefit Private Donor

During Day 6 of the impeachment trial of suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, House Impeachment managers called the special prosecutor hired to investigate state and federal investigators. These included officials who were investigating Nate Paul, and AG Paxton’s securities fraud cases. A “prosecution” witness from the bank said they had to stop the foreclosure of Paxton’s donor’s properties and that pulling the foreclosure due to the controversial AG opinion benefitted the donor.

The defense cross-examined the bank CEO about the federal moratorium during the COVID pandemic and said there wouldn’t be any foreclosures. Kendall Garrison, chief executive officer of Amplified Credit Union, testified he did not know anything about a federal moratorium, but the “Midnight Opinion” letter at the AG’s direction stopped the foreclosures of Natin “Nate” Paul’s properties. The opinion was issued between Sunday night and Monday morning. As reported by Breitbart Texas, Ryan Vassar, former Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel, previously testified that Paul’s lawyer used the informal opinion in court within days of its issuance in an attempt to stop foreclosures during the COVID pandemic. Vassar testified he had never seen Paxton get involved in drafting an opinion.

Nate Paul is an Austin real estate developer who donated $25,000 to Paxton. He is also the employer of Paxton’s mistress, Laura Olson, who is slated to testify on Wednesday — Day 7 of the impeachment trial. Paul is specifically mentioned in six of the articles of impeachment and is implicated in most of the others.

FBI agents arrested Paul in June. The 23-page indictment includes eight counts of making false statements to financial institutions.

At the beginning of Day 6, Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick announced that House Impeachment managers had used 19 hours during the trial, and Paxton’s defense had gone through 12 hours. Each side is allotted 24 hours for their case in chief and defense.

Paxon hired a five-year lawyer from Houston when Paxton could not get anyone in the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) to work on going after Paxton’s and Nate Paul’s federal and DPS investigators. A federal magistrate and bankruptcy judge were on Paul’s radar for the requested investigation.

The special prosecutor, Brandon R. Cammack, testified, “I did everything at his supervision, and I got affirmation from him [Paxton].” The criminal defense and personal injury lawyer from Houston said he forwarded most of the emails from Nate Paul and his attorney, Michael J. Wynne, to the AG. Wynne is a top rated white collar crimes attorney from Houston specializing in public corruption, money laundering, and insurance, mortgage, and bank fraud.

Cammack said he got assistance from Wynne in drafting grand jury subpoenas. Cammack explained he always worked on the defense side and not as a prosecutor. Wynne gave him a subpoena form, he stated.

The testimony revealed that Wynne provided Cammack with a prosecution memo, timelines, and spreadsheets. Cammack said Wynne gave him an Excel spreadsheet with contact information of individuals who were suspects or witnesses associated with the referral from the Travis County District Attorney’s Office. Nate Paul said he filed a complaint with the Travis DA alleging federal officials had altered a search warrant to broaden the scope. The feds raided Paul’s home and properties in April 2019.

Cammack said he and Paxton thought the grand jury process was “a discrete way of getting that information.” He testified that grand jury proceedings are secret and “would not cause any type of panic.”

When he began his job as a special prosecutor, Cammack knew nothing about Nate Paul except he was a real estate developer, Cammack explained. He did not “independently source” the witness list of the individuals given to him by Wynne or Paul. Cammack testified, “I didn’t really know Nate Paul. I was just trying to do my job.”

On cross-examination by Houston defense attorney Dan Cogdell, Cammack, referring to Nate Paul’s complaint about federal officials and the search warrant, said it was “not a baseless complaint.” Cammack said Paxton hired him because “No amount of information” could convince Paxton’s deputy general for law enforcement “that a federal official could commit a crime.”

Cammack, a criminal defense lawyer from a family of defense lawyers, said, “I don’t live in that house.” He views federal magistrates and other officials, regular people, and garbage men as all alike. Cammack said he “looks at a person’s character.”

“As a defense lawyer, that is what we do….This is just on the other side of it,” Cammack stated.

As reported by Breitbart Texas on Day 5, Mark Penley, the former deputy general for law enforcement, testified General Paxton asked him and the top investigator, former Texas Ranger David Maxwell, to investigate federal investigators investigating his donor. Some of these investigators were the same officials investigating Paxton in association with his pending securities fraud case.

When Cogdell asked Cammack if he was at the OAG to benefit Nate Paul, he replied, “Absolutely not.”

Cammack testified he was never paid for any of his work for the OAG. He testified he never considered himself as Ken Paxton’s lawyer.

House “prosecutors” also called Joseph “Joe” David Brown, a former U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Texas appointed by President Donald Trump. Brown testified he was interviewed for the special prosecutor position but was not hired. When asked about who investigates federal officials, he testified it was the Office of Inspector General (OIG) within the Department of Justice (DOJ). He had no idea that Nate Paul was a donor until he talked to OAG First Assistant Jeff Mateer.

Paxton’s former Deputy Attorney General for Civil Litigation, Darren McCarty, testified the OAG only got involved in a handful of charity cases, and the AG never interjected himself in charitable trusts before. Nate Paul was involved in very contentious litigation with the Mitte Foundation Charity and had agreed to settle for $10.5 million, McCarty stated. Paul wanted the OAG to intervene and do away with the settlement, he said.

McCarty, a former law clerk to a federal appellate judge on the Fourth Circuit, “did not believe the intervention was necessary.”

“I believed the intervention was unfounded, unethical, and was actually attacking a charitable trust instead of helping a charitable trust,” he testified.

Paxton’s defense counsel, Tony Buzbee, cross-examined McCarty and elicited testimony that Johnny Sutton, a George W. Bush appointed U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Texas, had been representing him for the last three years. McCarty testified that he did not have a fee contract with Sutton. McCarty admitted he signed off on the Mitte Foundation intervention, saying the office had “a colorable reason to intervene.” McCarthy said he had no personal knowledge about who paid for the Paxton’s home renovations.

Article I of the Articles of Impeachment charges Paxton with violating his duties as AG by failing to protect a charitable organization. Specifically, “Paxton caused employees of his office to intervene in a lawsuit brought by the Roy F. & JoAnn Cole Mitte Foundation against several corporate entities controlled by Nate Paul. Paxton harmed the Mitte Foundation in an effort to benefit Paul.”

Article XVII of the Articles of Impeachment charges “Paxton misused his official powers by causing employees of his office to perform services for his benefit and the benefit of others.”

Texas Penal Code section 39.02 entitled “Abuse of Official Capacity,” provides:

a. A public servant commits an offense if, with intent to obtain a benefit or with intent to harm or defraud another, he intentionally or knowingly:
1.   violates a law relating to the public servant’s office or employment; or
2.    misuses government property, services, personnel, or any other thing of value belonging to the government that has come into the public servant’s custody or possession by virtue of the public servant’s office or employment.

The degree of punishment is a misdemeanor or felony, depending on the value of the thing misused. It is a state jail felony if the value of the thing misused is $2,500 to $30,000, a felony of the third degree if the value is $30,000 to $150,000, a second decree felony if the value is between $150,000 and $300,000, and a felony of the first degree if the value is $300,000 or more.

As Breitbart reported, Paxton’s former chief of staff, Katherine “Missy” Minter Cary, testified that at one point, she believed the upper echelon was spending 50 percent of their time on Nate Paul.

Article IX of the Articles of Impeachment provides that Paxton engaged in bribery, thus violating section 41, Article XVI of the Texas Constitution. The Texas Penal Code section governing bribery is 36.02.

Article XVIII of the impeachment articles is a “catchall” that charges, “While holding office as attorney general, Warren Kenneth Paxton violated the Texas Constitution, his oaths of office, statutes, and public policy against public officials acting contrary to the public interest by engaging in acts described in one or more articles.”

Article XIX charges that Paxton “engaged in misconduct, private or public, of such character as to indicate his unfitness for office, as shown by the acts described in one or more articles.”

Article XX charges that Paxton abused the public trust, “bringing the Office of Attorney General into scandal and disrepute to the prejudice of public confidence in the government of this State, as shown by the acts described in one or more articles.”

Ken Paxton has not attended days two through six of the impeachment proceedings and only attended as required on the first day to enter a plea. Paxton pled not guilty through his defense lawyer, Tony Buzbee. Paxton’s wife, Senator Angela Paxton, was not sworn in as a juror. She is, however, required by the Texas Constitution to be present, so she has to hear the testimony. She is recused from voting, deliberating, or asking questions of any witnesses.

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