Texas GOP Attorney General Ken Paxton, having survived impeachment proceedings against him over fraud and corruption charges, is now bringing the power of his office against state House Republicans who managed his impeachment case.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says he will file criminal complaints against the Board of Managers who spearheaded his impeachment after his home address was published in documents posted online last week.
In a news release sent Monday, Paxton cited a new state law that makes it illegal to post someone’s address or phone number online “with the intent to cause harm or a threat of harm.” It is meant to protect people from “doxing,” the practice of posting someone’s personal information online without their permission and with malicious intent.
The attorney general said he and his family have received “multiple threats of violence.” The complaints will be filed with district attorneys in the managers’ eight home counties, according to the news release.
“The impeachment managers clearly have a desire to threaten me with harm when they released this information last week,” Paxton said. “I’m imploring their local prosecutors in each individual district to investigate the criminal offenses that have been committed.”
Paxton, a Republican, was impeached in May on allegations of corruption. The Texas Senate cleared him after a two-week trial last month.
Last week, the managers who unsuccessfully fought for Paxton’s removal from office posted dozens of pages of evidence they said they were unable to release during his impeachment trial. The address of the Paxton family’s Austin home was temporarily visible on several documents. The managers pulled them offline the morning after they were published to redact them, saying they were correcting the “mistake.”
Rep. Andrew Murr, who led the 12-member Board of Managers, issued a statement late Monday that noted Paxton’s address has been in exhibits posted to the Senate’s website without incident since August. While redacted from his annual personal financial disclosures, Paxton’s home addresses are also visible on local public appraisal district websites.
“Growing up on a ranch, I was taught to keep the manure on the outside of my boots. Mr. Paxton’s baseless threats about filing criminal complaints are horse manure, and they are filling his boots full,” Murr, R-Junction, said.
Rusty Hardin, one of the private practice lawyers who prosecuted the impeachment on behalf of the managers, said Paxton’s complaints have “no merit in the law.”
“He’s going to abuse the criminal justice system to punish the people who brought him before the impeachment court,” Hardin said, calling it an abuse of power.
The Dallas Morning News asked the police, sheriff and prosecutors’ offices in Collin, Dallas and Tarrant Counties whether they’d received any complaints from Paxton. The Dallas Police Department said to reach out to the district attorney, whose spokesperson did not answer a request for comment.
A representative with the Collin County sheriff said they had not, to their best of their knowledge, received such a complaint but would not answer further questions.
“Our office will not comment on this matter. Please seek alternative sources for your story,” Sgt. Jessica Pond wrote in an email.
Now, we're talking Texas Republicans here. There are no "good guys" in this fight, only shades of racist, white supremacist, transphobic, antisemitic assholery to parse. Paxton trying to put other Republicans in state prison is actually fine with me. Let them fight until the cows come home.
And just maybe, Texans can throw all of them out in 2024 and 2026.
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