A federal grand jury has been seated by federal prosecutors in San Antonio, Texas to review evidence and witness testimony against embattled conservative Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Last week it was revealed that Paxton was the subject of an ongoing federal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for his involvement with Texas real estate developer, Nate Paul – also the target of a federal investigation.
Despite the media leaks revealing that prosecutors were bringing witnesses to testify to the grand jury, Paxton’s legal team has been unable to confirm that this is in fact the case. Dan Cogdell, Paxton’s attorney said, “All I know is that no one from either the DOJ or the U.S. Attorney’s Office has been able to answer my most basic questions about any possible ongoing investigation regarding Ken.”
Paxton was impeached by the Texas House of Representatives and suspended from office this past May after an exceptionally nasty and public conflict with powerful Republican legislative leaders in the state. They accused Paxton of accepting bribes from Paul among other illegal acts while servings as Texas Attorney General. The Texas State Senate will convene on September 5th to determine whether or not to remove Paxton from office. The removal vote will require a two-thirds vote of the Texas State Senate’s 31 members.
In the aftermath of his suspension from office Paxton raised $1.7 million in just two-weeks, something his team called it a “personal post-session fundraising record”, indicating that the conservative firebrand still has strong grassroots support in the state – a fact that could play a critical role in whether the State Senate decides to move forward with removing him from office.
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