Texas House “prosecutors” started Day 7 of the impeachment trial of suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton by calling his mistress as a witness. Whistleblowers testified that the AG met with his top brass and wife in September 2018 and admitted he had an affair with Laura Olson.
After Olson was called to the stand, attorneys for House Impeachment Managers gathered at the “bench.” Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, President of the Texas Senate, presides over these proceedings. The Lt. Gov. is ruling on objections and admissions of exhibit evidence.
Patrick announced that Olson could not appear as a witness until mid-afternoon because she had not received 24-hour notice as required under the rules, as reported by Breitbart Texas.
The House Managers called Mitte Foundation attorney Ray Chester. He testified about the “Midnight Opinion” issued by the AG’s office at Paxton’s direction. Chester testified that the opinion prevented the charity from foreclosing on Natin “Nate” Pauls’ properties. “Those were a crucial three months where we lost a lot of time and money,” he explained. He also testified that they eventually received more than what they offered when the AG was involved.
Nate Paul is an Austin real estate developer who donated $25,000 to Paxton and is the employer of Paxton’s mistress. 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.
Chester testified that the charity had six investments with Paul and that Paul tried to “swindle” them” on some of them.
House impeachment managers called Drew Wicker, Paxton’s former personal assistant. Wicker, Paxton’s “Bag Man,” was the person who spent the most time with the AG.
Wicker testified that he was concerned about an inappropriate relationship between Laura Olson and the Attorney General and that bribery may be involved. He went to HR about Olson and reported spending extra time, including weekends. Wicker was an Office of the Attorney General (OAG) employee. He also witnessed the AG and Olson coming out of the Omni Hotel elevator where Paxton stayed during the renovations.
Wicker was concerned that Nate Paul was funding renovations at the Paxton home. He discussed this with General Paxton, and Paxton said that was, in fact, not the case. The personal assistant testified that he was at the Paxton home with the contractor and Paxton when he overheard them discussing granite countertops and kitchen cabinets. The contractor said three times that he would have to “check with Nate.”
Wicker admitted that he had to walk back some statements he made to law enforcement to make his statement more accurate.
Defense counsel Tony Buzbee presented photos that allegedly showed that the kitchen counters were never changed. Lt. Gov. Patrick overruled House impeachment lawyers when they objected to the photo’s lack of authenticity or legal predicate and asked that it not be admitted. Buzbee also showed Wicker receipts, which purported to show that Paxton had the trustee of his blind trust pay for the renovations.
House impeachment attorney Erin Epley asked questions designed to determine whether the granite counters were not installed because Paxton knew he was under scrutiny. Wicker had reported the conversation regarding the renovation contractor, who said he would have to “check with Nate.”
Attorney Rusty Hardin called James “Blake” Brickman as an impeachment witness. Brickman was Paxton’s former deputy attorney general for policy and strategy and is one of the whistleblowers. Brickman graduated from Vanderbilt University and the University of Kentucky College of Law. He testified he served as chief of staff to probably the country’s most conservative governor and U.S. Senator before coming to the Texas OAG.
General Paxton was very proud of Brickman, and he gave him a special award in front of the staff, a book from Antonin Scalia inscribed by Paxton, Brickman testified. Paxton told him he had never done that before. Brickman had devised an idea for Paxton to use his “bully pulpit” to comment about Shelley Luther, the Dallas hairdresser arrested for violating a stay-home order.
Brickman said he became concerned in late September 2020 because he witnessed Paxton “do brazen things to benefit Nate Paul.” “It got worse and worse,” he added. Brickman went to the FBI with others in the OAG top echelon. He testified he knew firsthand of Paxton’s “illegal, immoral, and unethical conduct.” He confirmed that he was an eyewitness, just like a robbery victim.
Brickman said he was fired by Paxton’s newly hired First Assistant Brent Webster. The deputy assistant attorney general testified that he was in a highly hostile work environment, and Paxton hired another scheduler.
Impeachment prosecutor Hardin asked Brickman what he thought about Paxton’s report to the Texas Legislature in August 2021 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.
Brickman is not one of the three whistle-blowers who have agreed to settle for over $3 million. He said he has not discussed raising the settlement amount for him but has only given Paxton three conditions.
Brickman said he wanted an apology from Paxton for calling the whistleblowers “rogue employees,” he wanted Paxton not to dismiss a Third Court of Appeals opinion that ruled in favor of the whistleblowers and the removal of a press release on the OAG website that described the whistleblowers as “rogue employees.”
Breitbart reported late afternoon, “[Laura Olson] is present but has been deemed unavailable to testify.” When a senator asked about this, Patrick repeated the statement and said that all he would say was that the parties had agreed that Olson “has been deemed unavailable to testify.”
Per various sources: It sounds like the alleged mistress, Laura Olson, was planning to plead the 5th on the stand, there was potentially a motion to quash, and the agreement ended up being that Patrick would read a short statement that she would not be testifying in the trial https://t.co/jbB9Hba3tM
— Scott Braddock (@scottbraddock) September 13, 2023
Breitbart Texas reported that Paxton’s former chief of staff, Katherine “Missy” Minter Cary, testified on Day 5 about her knowledge of his extramarital affair, in particular, about the staff meeting where Paxton acknowledged his infidelity to his staff and wife, Texas Senator Angela Paxton (R-Mckinney). Other former staff member witnesses testified about what happened at this meeting.
Cary learned in 2019 that Paxton was still having an affair with Olson. She talked to Paxton, and he told her he still loved Olson. She testified he yelled at her, was very angry, and stormed out of her office.
Article IX, entitled “Constitutional Bribery-Paul’s Employment of Mistress,” charges:
While holding office as attorney general, Warren Kenneth Paxton engaged in bribery in violation of Section 41, Article XVI, Texas Constitution.
Specifically, Paxton benefitted from Nate Paul’s employment of a woman with whom Paxton was having an extramarital affair. Paul received favorable legal assistance from, or specialized access to, the office of the attorney general.
Texas Penal Code 36.02 is the state criminal code section that details what constitutes bribery.
Article XVI, entitled “Conspiracy and Attempted Conspiracy,” states, “While holding office as attorney general, Kenneth Warren Paxton acted with others to conspire, or attempt to conspire, to commit acts described in one or more articles.”
Many of the articles of impeachment relate to Paxton’s alleged dealings with Nate Paul. FBI agents arrested the Austin real estate developer in June for making false statements to financial institutions and understating the value of his bank accounts and other assets. Paul donated $25,000 to Paxton’s campaign and hired his mistress, Laura Olson.
Flamboyant Houston attorney Tony Buzbee motioned for a directed verdict after House impeachment Rusty Hardin rested the House Impeachment Manager’s case. Senators were out deliberating the motions but returned to the Senate chamber. The prosecution and the defense had withdrawn their motions.
A motion for a directed verdict is a challenge to the sufficiency of the evidence presented during a trial. The defense filed motions for directed verdicts for the various articles of impeachment.
By Senate rules, the Senate jurors vote on the motions. In a regular trial, a judge rules on the motion and determines whether there is no legally sufficient evidence for a reasonable jury to make any other decision.
Impeachment lawyers had also filed a motion to consolidate the two-step verdict process so that a motion to convict would automatically disqualify Paxton from holding office. The senators could not consider the motion for 24 hours. This motion was also withdrawn.
Suspended Attorney General Paxton sent out this tweet while the senate was deliberating on the motions for a directed verdict:
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.