By Philip Jankowski and Lauren McGaughy
AUSTIN — In sometimes tearful testimony Thursday, Ken Paxton’s former top deputies said the attorney general abused his power to help real estate developer Nate Paul and to “target and harass law enforcement.”
Ryan Vassar testified that a group of staffers reported Paxton to the FBI in September 2020 for alleged corruption because “based on our good faith belief, criminal activity had occurred.”
“The concern was that it would only get worse,” he added, “that Paxton’s use of the office would only continue to be more extreme, to benefit Nate Paul, and the potential for us to be labeled as co-conspirators.”
Paxton’s defense lawyer J. Mitch Little asked Vassar whether they knew that the attorney general broke the law.
“That’s the point of the good faith belief,” Vassar replied. “We had no evidence that we could point to, but we had reasonable conclusions that we could draw.”
Little capitalized on the statement, saying: “Respectfully, sir, we are not here in this historic event for your good faith beliefs.”
Paxton’s defense team hopes the testimony will cast doubt on the veracity of the allegations eight former top staffers in Paxton’s office made against their former boss in 2020 — accusations that went on to form the backbone of numerous articles of impeachment the attorney general is facing in his impeachment trial in the Texas Senate.
Paxton, who has not been at the trial since Tuesday morning, is the first statewide elected official in Texas to face removal from office in more than 100 years. He is suspended without pay pending the outcome of his impeachment trial.
For the past three days, the state Senate has heard testimony from the deputies who reported him to the FBI. Two testified Thursday.
Paul’s influence over the agency had “metastasized” by late 2020, driving Paxton’s executive team to meet secretly and eventually to report the attorney general to the FBI, former deputy first assistant attorney general Ryan Bangert said earlier in the day.
“Our office had been, in my view, hijacked to serve the interests of an individual against the interest of the broader public,” Bangert testified.
Bangert’s testimony
A campaign donor and friend of Paxton’s, Paul was under federal investigation in 2020. He complained the probe was illegal, and that the FBI and Texas Department of Public Safety agents violated his rights during a 2019 raid on his home and business.
Over about four hours of testimony Wednesday, Bangert testified the agency devoted “hundreds of man hours” to Paul’s concerns at Paxton’s urging, diverting attention from more important issues, such as the COVID-19 response and a sprawling, multistate lawsuit against Google.
Paxton’s defense team has sought to paint the former employees who turned to the FBI as disloyal employees who sought to topple their boss. Paxton attorney Anthony Osso, Jr. on Thursday questioned Bangert on whether former staff were indeed committing a “mutiny.”
“That would make no sense to me,” Bangert said. “We were trying to protect the attorney general as much as we could.”
Bangert also revealed, for the first time, that Paxton asked him to meet personally with Paul.
The three men and Paxton’s personal aide traveled together in Paul’s car to Polvo’s restaurant in south Austin, he testified, during which Paul laid out his complaints. The businessman dominated the conversation, according to Bangert, and Paxton did not seem to disagree with his assertion that federal and state law enforcement should be investigated for the 2019 raid.
“That was one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen,” he said, recalling the event.
Bangert added that Paxton personally produced a document waiving the agency’s ethics rules that allowed Bangert to speak with Paul about the businessman’s lawsuit against a charity.
It all “came to a head” when Bangert and other top deputies learned that an outside attorney had issued criminal grand jury subpoenas on behalf of the AG’s office to entities involved in the FBI investigation into Paul. Top assistants at the attorney general’s office had repeatedly attempted to sway Paxton to cut ties to the businessman.
“It became clear to me that there was nothing more I could do, that the Office of the Attorney General was determined to harness the power of our office to fulfill the interests of a single individual against the interests of the state,” Bangert testified.
In the month that followed Bangert reporting Paxton to the FBI, Paxton removed nearly all of the deputy’s responsibilities. He was “an employee in name only,” Bangert said, and resigned shortly after.
He now works at the Alliance Defending Freedom, a prominent Christian legal advocacy organization.
Vassar’s testimony
Vassar, a former deputy attorney general for legal counsel, was among four whistleblowers who sued Paxton’s agency for retaliation. Lead prosecutor Rusty Hardin asked what effect his termination had on his personal and professional life.
Paxton has repeatedly referred to those who reported him to the FBI as “rogue employees.”
“It was hurtful,” Vassar said, tearing up. “The statement of being ‘rogue’ is contrary to the years that I’ve dedicated my life to the state.”
Vassar, who now works as general counsel for the Cicero Institute, testified that Paxton expressed a deep mistrust for both state and federal law enforcement officials. The attorney general has been under indictment on state criminal securities fraud charges for eight years.
Vassar noted that Paxton likened his own troubles with law enforcement to those facing Nate Paul.
“General Paxton didn’t want it to appear that his office was aiding the Department of Public Safety or the FBI,” he testified.
Little, while cross-examining Vassar, described Paxton as a “gentle,” “kind” and “attentive” boss who provided his employees with his personal cellphone number and “secret” email address. When asked whether the attorney general deserved a call before his senior staff accused him of serious crimes “without evidence,” Vassar demurred.
“I would disagree that we didn’t have any evidence, just based on our beliefs,” he said. “But I don’t believe I owed General Paxton anything.”
Vassar’s testimony will continue Friday at 9 a.m.
This story, originally published in The Dallas Morning News, is reprinted as part of a collaborative partnership between The Dallas Morning News and Texas Metro News. The partnership seeks to boost coverage of Dallas’ communities of color, particularly in southern Dallas.
