DALLAS (AP) — Several top deputies of Texas’ attorney general have accused him of crimes including bribery and abuse of office in an internal letter saying they’ve reported the actions to law enforcement.
In a brief letter, seven senior lawyers wrote that they reported Republican Ken Paxton for potentially breaking the law “in his official capacity as the current Attorney General of Texas."
The letter was first reported by the Austin American-Statesman and KVUE-TV and obtained by The Associated Press.
Paxton’s office says, “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."
Congressman Chip Roy issued a statement on Monday asking for Paxton to step down saying, “The Attorney General deserves his days in court, but the people of Texas deserve a fully functioning AG’s office.”
Not long after, Paxton released a statement of his own:
“The Texas attorney general’s office was referred a case from Travis county regarding allegations of crimes relating to the FBI, other government agencies and individuals. My obligation as attorney general is to conduct an investigation upon such referral. Because employees from my office impeded the investigation and because I knew Nate Paul I ultimately decided to hire an outside independent prosecutor to make his own independent determination. Despite the effort by rogue employees and their false allegations I will continue to seek justice in Texas and will not be resigning.”