Texas AG Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial defense includes claims of a Republican plot to remove him
Associated PressAUSTIN, Texas — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has long denied corruption accusations that have dogged him for years. “It was not a mutiny,” Ryan Bangert, one of Paxton’s former aides, testified Thursday about a group of deputies who reported their boss to the FBI in 2020. “We were protecting the interest of the state and protecting the interest of the attorney general and, in my view, signing our professional death warrant at the same time.” The start of the trial is putting into view how lawyers for Paxton, who has been shadowed by criminal charges and an ongoing FBI investigating for years, intend to defend one of Texas’ most powerful figures. On cross-examination, Paxton attorney Tony Buzbee asked Mateer about whether he had communicated with Bush, the former Texas land commissioner who unsuccessfully challenged Paxton in last year’s Republican primary. He also asked whether Mateer was staging “a coup.” Mateer replied, “Absolutely not.” Abbott spokeswoman Renae Eze said Paxton’s aides asked to meet with “senior staff” at the governor’s office and that the deputies were told to talk to Paxton.