Lawyers for suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton put on his defense and rested on Day 8 of his impeachment trial. One of Paxton’s lawyers accurately summed up the case as essentially a “rebuttal case at this point, not really a defense.” Paxton’s lawyers called only four witnesses for his defense – all current employees of Paxton.
One of lawyers for Paxton’s defense, Amy S. Hilton, is an Office of the Attorney General (OAG) assistant attorney general who had taken a leave of absence to help with the defense. Six of Paxton’s employees took a leave to assist in Paxton’s defense during the impeachment trial.
The House Impeachment Board of Managers rested on the evening of Day 7. The defense called Michael J. Gerhardt but the trial adjourned before he could testify. Gerhard, a law professor at the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill, specializes in constitutional law and impeachments. The House Board of Managers objected and Lieutenant Dan Patrick, the president of the Senate, sustained their objection.
The defense had eight hours and 38 minutes left as of 9 a.m. Thursday morning.
The first witness called by the defense was Justin Gordon, the Open Records Division Chief at the OAG currently. He said the OAG issues approximately 40,000 attorney general opinions a year. Gordon testified there was little merit to the House allegations that Paxton pressured his staff to improperly release law enforcement sensitive information regarding an FBI raid on Nate Paul’s house.
Austin Kinghorn, Associate Deputy Attorney General for Legal Counsel, was the second witness the defense called. Kinghorn was promoted after Ryan Vassar was fired. As reported by Breitbart Texas, Vassar testified on Day 3 about the Open Records Request that the AG “asked us to find a way to release the information.” If they had done so, Vassar said, “It would reverse decades of the law enforcement privilege.” Paxton said he thought Nate Paul was being “railroaded” and expressed distrust in law enforcement.
Defense counsel asked Kinghorn a lot of questions that the OAG employee could essentially affirm. He acknowledged that he had no personal knowledge of Laura Olsen (Paxton’s mistress), or any bribe. Kinghorn denied any improper actions in the agency’s report that allegedly exonerated Paxton of any wrongdoing. He testified that Paxton, as the elected attorney general, has broad authority and wide-ranging access to documents in the agency’s possession.
“His name is on the wall. It’s his agency, and he’s the duly elected attorney general,” Kinghorn testified. “So it’s his law firm. He gets to see a file if he wants to see it.”
Rusty Hardin and Associates partner, Daniel Dutko cross-examined Kinghorn for the House Impeachment Managers. He got Kinghorn to admit that he made HR decisions regarding the whistleblowers “based on facts presented to me.” Dutko replied, “Garbage in, garbage out.”
After a conference at the bench, Lt. Governor Patrick announced that the Motion to Collapse that had been filed yesterday had been withdrawn.
Erin Eply, a House impeachment lawyer, cross-examined Kinghorn and got him to acknowledge that they had a lot of dealings together when preparing for this impeachment trial. She questioned Kinghorn about reports that essentially showed up the next day about issues they had just discussed.
Kinghorn admitted that there were communications coming in through the Signal App. and Proton mail and admitted that he was aware that PIA (Public Information Act) communications had come in via text.
Kinghorn denied taking “directives” from Paxton but turned around and said the OAG was Ken Paxton’s law firm. When asked why Paxton-hired special prosecutor Brandon Cammack had not been paid, he answered, “Because the time Cammack reached out, I believe the contract had been closed as of that time.”
Epley, who has received some positive attention for her legal skills on X (formerly known as Twitter), asked Kinghorn about his representing Paxton on a grievance before the Texas State Bar. She asked him whether he really argued that General Paxton was not subject to the State Bar Rules. Kinghorn said the did not recall making that statement.
— Lauren McGaughy (@lmcgaughy) September 14, 2023
Henry de la Garza, the current director of Human Resources at the OAG was called by defense counsel Amy S. Hilton. Currently, Hilton, an assistant attorney general, is on leave from the OAG.
The current OAG human resources manager described policies and procedures for dealing with employees, including being terminated. He named the whistleblowers that resigned or were terminated. De la Garza said that Paxton’s new First Assistant, Brent Webster, fired James “Blake” Brickman, Deputy Attorney General Policy and Strategy, for using an insubordinate tone with the new first assistant. As reported by Breitbart Texas, Brickman was one of the whistleblowers. The witness wrote a memo that recommended allowing Brickman to resign or be involuntarily separated.
The HR manager testified there was “no reasonable expectation” Brickman wanted to work for his new boss. He also claimed that high-level policy members are exempt from whistleblower status. Brickman has taken great exception to this argument and the Third Court of Appeals in Austin has ruled otherwise.
Impeachment lawyer Daniel Dutko volleyed the phrase, “There are no coincidences in Austin,” back in the face of the defense during cross-examination. The “prosecution” did it twice during the day of Paxton’s defense.
The fourth and last witness called by the defense was Grant Dorfman, Deputy First Assistant Attorney General. Dorfman, a former civil district judge from Harris County, joined the OAG in December 2020. He testified he had no personal knowledge of the allegations against Paxton. General Paxton appointed Dorfman after the whistleblowers left the office.
Dorfman denied that a settlement agreement “conspicuously delayed the discovery of facts and testimony at trial.”
“Whether conspicuous or not, it didn’t delay the discovery of facts,” Dorfman stated. “By settling, there was no discovery ongoing at that time.”
As reported by Breitbart Texas, Brickman told House Board of Managers attorney Rusty Hardin what he thought about Paxton’s report to the Texas Legislature after the whistleblower claims became public. Brickman replied that Paxton lied and made “false claims” and “I would call this report a whitewash full of lies and omissions.” He said Paxton did not answer the questions asked by members of the Texas House. Namely, Paxton said his actions were taken for the benefit of the public, but Brickman charged that these things were done only for the benefit of Nate Paul.
Brickman said Paxton directed that an attorney general opinion be written to prevent even outside foreclosures during the COVID-19 pandemic. He called Paxton on his hypocrisy in having this opinion written to help stop foreclosures on Nate Paul’s property. He said the AG had an outside fundraiser the month before in Dallas.
Gary Polland, defense lawyer and former chairman of the Harris County Republican Party told Breitbart Texas, “I expected defense witnesses who don’t depend on their livelihood with the Attorney General.”
Referencing recent polling, Polland added this about Paxton, “In the battle for public opinion it seems Ken has lost the majority of voters.”
Closing arguments will begin on Friday morning. The court is slated to be in session at 9.m. CDT.
Ken Paxton has not attended the impeachment proceedings except for the first morning when he was required to enter a guilty or not guilty plea. Defense attorney Tony Buzbee entered his client’s “not guilty” plea.
Video archives of the impeachment proceedings can be found on the Texas Senate Impeachment website. The articles of Impeachment, the Rules of Procedure for the Court of Impeachment, the witness list, all motions filed by the House Board of Managers and Paxton’s defense team, exhibits, and other potential evidence are posted on the Texas Senate Court of Impeachment website.
Lana Shadwick is a writer and legal analyst for Breitbart Texas. She is a trial lawyer who practices criminal defense and family law in East Texas. She was a Texas prosecutor and family court associate judge in Harris County, Texas.
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