What a nest of vipers the AG’s office must be.
Still a crook any way you look
Several former and current top aides of Attorney General Ken Paxton are trading explosive accusations in legal and administrative filings, the latest of which alleges that Paxton’s right-hand deputy obstructed justice and tampered with witnesses during his 2023 impeachment.
The public feud could become a distraction for Paxton just as he’s overcome a series of legal troubles, including the impeachment charges, which he was acquitted of by the Texas Senate, and as he launches his bid to unseat U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in next year’s Republican primary.
The new allegations — detailed in a suit filed Wednesday in federal court in Austin by former Solicitor General Judd Stone and Chris Hilton, the former chief of the general litigation division — include claims that current First Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster threatened to fire employees if they gave testimony during the impeachment proceedings that was unfavorable to Paxton. The claim has not previously been reported, and Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It’s not clear if the claims were ever raised to law enforcement; Webster has not been charged with any criminal wrongdoing.
The first lawsuit was filed last month by Jordan Eskew, a former executive assistant for Stone and Hilton, against the two men and their private law firm. Eskew accused Stone of sexual harassment on multiple occasions in 2023 when she had taken leave from Paxton’s office to work for Stone and Hilton as private attorneys representing Paxton in the impeachment trial. She also claimed Hilton failed to protect her and that the two created a hostile work environment.
A spokesperson for Stone and Hilton’s law firm has called Eskew’s suit “a complete fabrication” and said that it was pushed by Paxton’s top deputy, First Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster, who has a “personal vendetta” against Stone and Hilton. Webster and Eskew are still working at the attorney general’s office.
This week, Stone and Hilton shot back with a suit of their own against Webster and other attorney general staffers, not including Eskew, and a bar complaint against Webster.
They claim Webster tried to damage their careers by lying about them and encouraging Eskew to file her sexual harassment suit.
Stone and Hilton also claimed in the filing to the State Bar of Texas that Webster tried to tamper with potential witnesses for Paxton’s impeachment proceedings by pressuring them to give favorable testimony or “to flee the state to evade being subpoenaed to disclose information harmful to Webster.” It does not specify which people were targeted.
Webster also demanded that Stone and Hilton “disclose confidential information” during the impeachment proceedings, which would have violated their professional obligation to Paxton, according to the bar complaint.
When they refused to share the information, the complaint alleges, Webster threatened retaliation against them and the firm.
The bar complaint also alleges Webster abused the power of his office by, in part, leveraging meetings with private citizens and lawyers to try to obtain future lucrative employment and harm his enemies.
The Bar’s law office will now review the complaint and decide within the next 30 days whether the allegations amount to professional misconduct, and if so, it will conduct an investigation.
See here for more on the Jordan Eskew lawsuit. The Trib story that piggybacked off of this Chron report says that “both sides go to great lengths to stress that Paxton was not involved in any of the alleged malfeasances”, but that’s not a great look for him, either. Like, what are you as the boss of all of these people doing if all of this stuff is happening on your watch without you having any idea about it? Other than preening in front of cameras, a skill at which I will readily admit he excels. I for one will not try to predict how news like this will be received by the seething hordes of Republican primary voters. Even with everyone involved in this story being a true believer and literal Paxton crony, it’s not clear to me that any of this will be heard, understood, or accepted by them. But I will be happy to see John Cornyn spend a few million bucks trying to rub their faces in it. Reform Austin has more.