Best mugshot ever
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton fled his home in a truck driven by his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, to avoid being served a subpoena Monday, according to an affidavit filed in federal court.
Ernesto Martin Herrera, a process server, was attempting to serve the state’s top attorney with a subpoena for a federal court hearing Tuesday in a lawsuit from nonprofits that want to help Texans pay for abortions out of state.
When Herrera arrived at Paxton’s home in McKinney on Monday morning, he told a woman who identified herself as Angela that he was trying to deliver legal documents to the attorney general. She told him that Paxton was on the phone and unable to come to the door. Herrera said he would wait.
Nearly an hour later, a black Chevrolet Tahoe pulled into the driveway, and 20 minutes after that, Ken Paxton exited the house.
“I walked up the driveway approaching Mr. Paxton and called him by his name. As soon as he saw me and heard me call his name out, he turned around and RAN back inside the house through the same door in the garage,” Herrera wrote in the sworn affidavit.
Angela Paxton then exited the house, got inside a Chevrolet truck in the driveway, started it and opened the doors.
“A few minutes later I saw Mr. Paxton RAN from the door inside the garage towards the rear door behind the driver side,” Herrera wrote. “I approached the truck, and loudly called him by his name and stated that I had court documents for him. Mr. Paxton ignored me and kept heading for the truck.”
Herrera eventually placed the subpoenas on the ground near the truck and told him he was serving him with a subpoena. Both cars drove away, leaving the documents on the ground.
On Twitter, the attorney general said his sudden departure was motivated by concerns for his family’s safety.
“It’s clear that the media wants to drum up another controversy involving my work as Attorney General, so they’re attacking me for having the audacity to avoid a stranger lingering outside my home and showing concern about the safety and well-being of my family,” he wrote in a tweet.
You can see the affidavit here. I mean, seriously. If this had been a story in The Onion, I’d have rolled my eyes at it for being too on the nose. All this because Paxton was too much of a weenie to give a deposition in a lawsuit that had little to do with him. Other people have righteously mocked Paxton for his Brave Sir Robin impression, and now I will as well.
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A video recreation of Ken Paxton fleeing to avoid being served a subpoena just dropped:#txlege
https://kvue.com/article/news/local/texas/ken-paxton-flees-home-subpoena/269-2d40eaff-4381-4d0e-a15c-785422ecba4d— John R. Eakin (@JREakin) 11:21 PM – 26 September 2022
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Paxton ran from that subpoena the same way he ran from his campaign for Speaker. This is a #TxLege deep cut.— Scott Braddock (@scottbraddock) 11:48 AM – 27 September 2022
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I had to write about Ken Paxton running from a process server and then lying about it to play the victim. It really shows how these GOP bullies have absolutely no courage. They have to bully from afar and always pick on vulnerable people.— Amanda Marcotte (@AmandaMarcotte) 12:36 PM – 27 September 2022
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I’ve met @KenPaxtonTX. He was so concerned for his safety when I made him dinner, he brought an entire security detail, including a state trooper who inspected my home before he arrived.But he didn’t call the police or his bodyguards this time and RAN AWAY instead? Seems sus.
— Amber Briggle (she/her) (@mrsbriggle) 6:24 AM – 27 September 2022
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anyway, as long as we’re talking about having to run away to safety, may i remind you that i know MANY trans-inclusive families who are now political refugees and internally displaced americans, thanks to @KenPaxtonTX and @GregAbbott_TX.— Amber Briggle (she/her) (@mrsbriggle) 11:43 AM – 27 September 2022
I think I’m done now. What a miserable, sniveling coward Ken Paxton is. The kindest thing we can all do for him now is to vote for Rochelle Garza, so that he and his family can go back home.
Too funny. Who runs from a stranger outside the house? You have to defend your house.
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