The Wild Fraud Case Against the Texas Attorney General Ends In an Ironic Twist

This is Totally Normal Quote of the Day, a feature highlighting a statement from the news that exemplifies just how extremely normal everything has become.

“Something is wrong when the state’s top lawyer is forced to take a class on how to be a good lawyer.” —Texas Democrat John Bucy III

Three weeks before Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was scheduled to face a jury trial over felony fraud charges, he reached an eleventh-hour deal with state prosecutors. It’s the second win for Paxton this year—six months ago, he was acquitted of 16 corruption charges in a dramatic impeachment case that rocked the Texas GOP.

Now Paxton has agreed to pay about $271,000 in restitution, complete 100 hours of community service, and take 15 hours of legal ethics education. (As Democratic state House Rep. John Bucy III noted, a bit ironic for the state’s top law enforcement officer.) In exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop three felony charges that could have landed Paxton in prison for decades had he been convicted. The attorney general’s lawyer stressed that there was no admission of guilt involved with this settlement, insisting that prosecutors, despite working on the case for nine years, could not prove that Paxton was guilty of any crimes.

Other Texas Democrats underlined the absurdity of the situation. “The system is broken when our corrupt Texas Attorney General, who is under investigation by the FBI, being sued by whistleblowers, and under threat of disbarment … has to take 15 hours of legal ethics education to avoid jail time,” said Democratic Sen. Roland Gutierrez, who was previously a candidate for U.S. Senate, against incumbent Sen. Ted Cruz.*

Paxton was first indicted in 2015, just months after he was first elected to the AG’s office. Prosecutors accused him of duping investors after he failed to disclose that he was being paid by tech startup Servergy to recruit them. He also did not register with the state of Texas as an investment adviser. Paxton managed to delay the trial for years by initiating pretrial disputes about where the trial should take place and how much state prosecutors were being paid. (Hmm! Sounds a lot like another Republican who’s notorious for his delay tactics.)

Rep. Joaquin Castro alleged that it seemed as if Paxton had gotten special treatment; Brian Wice, the special prosecutor assigned by a judge to execute the case, insisted that the process was fair and that justice had been served: “Ultimately, this was a resolution that required him, whether inferentially or indirectly, to accept responsibility.” Dan Cogdell, Paxton’s attorney, rejected that idea. “It was a case on Day 1 we knew they couldn’t prove, and on Year 9, we still knew they couldn’t prove. Ken’s not guilty,” said Cogdell.

Paxton still faces two more legal battles. He’s been under investigation by the FBI since 2020 over corruption allegations—the same ones Texas lawmakers tried impeaching him over—and he faces a civil lawsuit brought by former aides. They accuse the attorney general of wrongful termination; Paxton fired them after finding out they’d reported him to the FBI.

Somehow, Paxton’s legal troubles don’t seem to bother Texans, who have now twice reelected Paxton to the AG’s office. In that post, he has continued to wield his power in ultra-conservative MAGA ways: He petitioned the Texas Supreme Court to stop a lower court order that allowed Kate Cox to obtain an abortion after her fetus was found to have a lethal abnormality. (The high court eventually ruled that Cox was ineligible for abortion, and she traveled out of state to receive one.) Paxton has also sued the Biden administration more than two dozen times since January 2021 over its immigration policies.

It certainly helps that Paxton has the full support of Donald Trump. When the attorney general was facing impeachment in the Texas Senate last year, the former president threatened Texas Republicans who voted in favor of it. “Hopefully Republicans in the Texas House will agree that this is a very unfair process that should not be allowed to happen or proceed—I will fight you if it does,” wrote Trump on Truth Social.