Texas AG Paxton Faces Accusations of Bribery and Abuse of Office

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is facing a new barrage of accusations over alleged “improper influence, abuse of office, bribery and other potential crimes” by his staff.

On October 1, seven of Paxton’s top aides submitted a letter to the Texas Attorney General Office’s director of human resources, accusing Paxton of bribery and abusing his office, among other claims. The letter was signed by former First Assistant Attorney General Jeff Mateer, who resigned from his post on Friday.

Following the accusations, Paxton’s office issued a statement, saying the accusations by his staffers were made to “impede an ongoing investigation.”

“The complaint filed against Attorney General Paxton was done to impede 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,” the Attorney General’s statement read.

However, some prominent Texas officials are now calling on Paxton to resign his post. U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, a former Paxton official, called upon Paxton to resign on Monday.

“For the good of the people of Texas and the extraordinary public servants who serve at the Office of the Attorney General, Attorney General Ken Paxton must resign,” Roy said in his statement. “The allegations of bribery, abuse of office, and other charges levied against him by at least 7 senior leaders of the Office of the Attorney General are more than troubling on the merits. But, any grace for him to resolve differences and demonstrate if the allegations are false was eliminated by his choice instead to attack the very people entrusted, by him, to lead the office – some of whom I know well and whose character are beyond reproach.”

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott also commented on the accusations this week, stating they raise serious concerns.

"These allegations raise serious concerns," Abbott said in a statement, according to the Texas Tribune. "I will withhold further comment until the results of any investigation are complete."

Justin Nelson, Paxton’s 2018 Democratic challenger, also commented on the accusations this week, saying in a tweet that he feels Paxton must resign from his position.

“We cannot have a Texas attorney general who is under this cloud,” Nelson said. “All Texans need to have faith that the Texas attorney general is acting for proper and correct reasons—so that justice is equal and not based on who you know.”

However, Paxton has said he has no intentions of resigning, once again stating that the accusations by his staffers were made to impede upon an ongoing investigation.

“Despite the effort by rogue employees and their false allegations I will continue to seek justice in Texas and will not be resigning,” Paxton said in a statement.

Paxton has served as attorney general since first winning the job in 2014 to replace Greg Abbott, who was leaving the position to run for governor. He was re-elected in 2018, receiving about 51 percent of the vote against Nelson and a Libertarian opponent, Michael Ray Harris, who received 47 percent and 2 percent, respectively. Prior to becoming attorney general, Paxton served in the Texas Senate.