Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has a new legal headache to deal with as he fights to hold his job in a May 24 Republican primary runoff.
Paxton has been under indictment since 2015 on state securities fraud charges relating to activities prior to taking office. He has pleaded not guilty. In October 2020, several high-level assistants in Paxton’s office accused him of “bribery, abuse of office, and other crimes.”
Now Paxton also faces a state bar complaint accusing him of professional misconduct when he sued to overturn the 2020 presidential election in key battleground states, with the intention of keeping then-President Donald Trump in office and preventing President Joe Biden from reaching office.
The legal administration fight comes as Paxton faces a primary runoff challenge from Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush., son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, nephew of former President George W. Bush, and grandson of the late President George H.W. Bush.
STATE BAR INVESTIGATING TEXAS ATTORNEY GENERAL OVER CASE CHALLENGING BIDEN SWING-STATE WINS: REPORT
Paxton contends the bar complaint is just politics aimed at a Trump-backing, anti-establishment officeholder who has been successfully pushing a conservative agenda in the state attorney general’s office, which he first won in January 2015.
“Today it was leaked that the Texas State Bar is suing me. I’m not surprised; everyone knows this organization spends all their time and money on anti-conservative causes,” Paxton said in a statement Tuesday. Paxton accused the Texas State Bar of “a bid to manipulate elections” given the timing of his GOP runoff election.
The complaint stems from a group of more than a dozen lawyers and Lawyers Defending American Democracy, a nonprofit organization. They filed the complaint last year with the bar over Paxton’s lawsuit challenging election results in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Georgia.
Attorney General Ken Paxton Responds to Texas State Bar Lawsuit
McKinney, Texas — Today, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton released the following statement regarding the Texas State Bar’s decision to move forward with a lawsuit: pic.twitter.com/F9TRiqv7vk
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) March 9, 2022
Paxton’s long-shot election challenge was subsequently rejected by the Supreme Court in December 2020, ruling Texas had not proven its reasoning for standing in the case. The Texas State Bar also called out Paxton over a lack of voter fraud evidence in the case filed to the high court.
“They’ve intentionally waited a year and a half after my Supreme Court challenge — right in the middle of an election — to do it,” Paxton added in his statement. “Worse, they announced their plans on the very first day of my runoff election against George P. Bush — Biden’s and the Democrats’ preferred candidate for Attorney General.”
The Texas State Bar said it is “unable to confirm whether this matter exists” in a statement to the Washington Examiner on Wednesday.
“The Chief Disciplinary Counsel’s Office is required to keep disciplinary matters confidential unless they result in a public sanction or the respondent attorney elects to proceed in district court,” it added.
Now the attorney general must decide within 20 days to participate in either an internal investigatory and evidentiary hearing by the Texas State Bar or in a trial by jury in Travis County.
During the primary election earlier this month, Paxton earned 42% of the vote, while Bush came in second place with 22%.
Bush has sought to utilize Paxton’s felony securities indictment and abuse-of-office allegations as fuel toward his election bid. Bush argues Paxton’s scandals and legal troubles could hand Democrats their first victory in a statewide race since the 1990s.
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In a separate decision, the State Bar of Texas is seeking to discipline attorney Sidney Powell for filing lawsuits that sought to overturn the results of the 2020 election in Michigan to favor Trump.
The Washington Examiner contacted Lawyers Defending American Democracy but did not receive a response.
