The Office of the Attorney General (“OAG”) released a comprehensive report that unequivocally refutes incorrect testimony that was heard in the House General Investigating Committee. Based on the inaccuracies, falsehoods, and misstatements provided in that testimony, the Texas House chose to proceed with the illegal impeachment of Attorney General Paxton.
The General Investigating Committee’s politically motivated investigation against Attorney General Paxton is predicated on long-disproven claims grounded in hearsay and gossip. In August of 2021, after nearly a year of diligent investigation into these claims from former employees, the Office of the Attorney General released an exhaustive report that ultimately refuted each of the former employees’ allegations. In that report, the OAG stated it would further investigate the allegations and supplement as necessary. Subsequently, the OAG retained an outside law firm to conduct further investigation into the claims of retaliation by the former employees.
This law firm investigation culminated in a report that documents the OAG’s legitimate, non-retaliatory grounds for terminating each of these individuals. This report, along with other clarifying and ultimately exonerating information, could have been readily available to the committee investigators had they merely asked.
Furthermore, an official from the Office of the Attorney General was physically present at a hearing of the House General Investigating Committee on Thursday, May 25. The official offered to testify and sought to inform the House General Investigating Committee about this matter, including by supplying the report, which the official had a physical copy of with him. However, the House General Investigating Committee specifically chose to ignore the official’s offer to testify because they were narrowly focused on advancing an illegal action that would disenfranchise voters who duly elected the Attorney General. They were not interested in the truth. They were interested only in crafting a highly curated, one-sided case to overthrow the will of the voters.
In light of the irresponsible, unfounded, and illegal impeachment of Attorney General Paxton, the Office of the Attorney General is now releasing the report.
Updated on May 29 at 12:30 p.m. CT: The Lewis Brisbois report has been updated continuously as the investigation progresses. It continues to be updated if and when needed. Lewis Brisbois provided an updated report to the OAG on February 8, 2023 that informed the State’s decisions regarding litigation. The report has a date “auto-updater” in the report body that assigns the present date that the report is opened, instead of the date it was delivered. This is why the report published on the OAG’s website has the date of May 24, 2023, which is the date that Chief of General Litigation Chris Hilton printed the report prior to attempting to provide the report to the House Committee on General Investigating.
To read the initial report, click here.
To read the outside law firm’s report, click here.