'Crisis moment': Ken Paxton aide recalls failed effort to cut AG's ties to Nate Paul

Jeffrey Mateer, suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's former first assistant, testified Wednesday that he became alarmed when he learned more about Paxton's relationship with Nate Paul, an Austin real estate developer and campaign donor, who is at the center of many of the impeachment charges levied against the suspended attorney general.

For Mateer, Paxton's interest in personally arguing in favor of a restrictive COVID-19 pandemic provision in a Travis County state District Court despite the attorney general's office's stance against public safety restrictions, hiring outside counsel to investigate a complaint Paul made against law enforcement authorities who raided his home and business, and Paxton's extramarital affair with a woman whom Paul later hired at his company, caused him to lose faith in his former boss and led him to resign in 2020.

Publicly telling his story for the first time, Mateer's testimony on the second day of Paxton's impeachment trial revealed House impeachment managers' effort to connect Paxton and his actions to Paul, shedding light on the perceived conflict in the attorney general's office that prompted eight whistleblowers to file a complaint against Paxton with the FBI.

"I think one of the jobs of the first assistant, in addition to running the office, was to protect the attorney general," Mateer said. "And, quite frankly, I obviously failed at that."

After Paxton's legal team, led by attorneys Tony Buzbee and Dan Cogdell, dropped an objection seeking to bar from admitting into evidence Paxton's communications with staff on the grounds of attorney-client privilege, which stalled the latter part of the trial's first day, Buzbee continuously objected to Mateer's testimony and questions from prosecutor Rusty Hardin, saying the comments were hearsay and irrelevant.

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Those comments related to Paxton's involvement in pursing legal guidance to prohibit foreclosure sales, which affected Paul's properties, based on COVID-19 restrictions, and intervening in a lawsuit against a nonprofit.

Mateer said he was confused by the choice to purse the foreclosure decision, as it was clear the office dogma at the time was to "reopen" Texas and fight COVID-19 restrictions.

"The opinion took the complete opposite view," Mateer testified. "It was as if Anthony Fauci had written it."

Mateer also took issue with the out-of-the-ordinary hiring of an outside legal counsel who was directed to investigate the ongoing federal investigation into Paul, which resulted in attorney Brandon Cammack serving a grand jury subpoena to a bank.

In June, an eight-count federal indictment against Paul accused him of making false statements to secure mortgage loans in 2017 and 2018. Paxton, who was running for reelection in 2018, received a $25,000 campaign contribution from Paul.

Mateer and other agency deputies had told Paxton not to hire Cammack, Mateer testified Wednesday. Paxton ignored his aides' advice and hired him to the surprise of Mateer and other office lawyers.

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When the news of Cammack's subpoena reached the attorney general's deputies, it sparked a serious conversation by Paxton's aides during an impromptu and urgent meeting about the attorney general's ongoing conduct, which Mateer said he felt, at the time, could have been due to someone possibly blackmailing Paxton.

"We considered it a crisis moment," Mateer said. "Everything involving Mr. Paul was coming to a head."

The reason for Paxton's decisions were more clear when it became known that Paul had hired Laura Olson, a woman with whom Paxton was having an extramarital affair beginning in 2018, Mateer testified.

Working directly under Paxton at the time, Mateer recalled a 2018 meeting with office staff and Paxton's campaign team during which the attorney general and his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, addressed the affair. Ken Paxton told them the affair had ended, and he asked for his staff's forgiveness, Mateer testified.

Mateer, however, later took Olson's hiring at Paul's company as a sign that Paxton's affair with the woman had resumed.

"It answered the question of why he is engaging in all of these activities," Mateer testified.

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During cross-examination, Buzbee challenged Mateer, driving home the point that Paxton was in charge of the office, and that just because Mateer disagreed with some decisions by Paxton did not warrant contacting the FBI.

Buzbee also pushed back against what Mateer called "reasonable assumptions" about the connection between Paxton and Paul during the months leading to September 2020.

"Have you ever played the game of telephone with your kids?" Buzbee asked. "Sometimes it is comical how the story is passed from one person to another person."

Buzbee argued against the weight of Paul's political contributions to Paxton, which Buzbee displayed on a chart showing that Paul's donation in 2018 amounted to 0.37% of Paxton's total contributions.

"You could have put this to bed had you talked to your boss," Buzbee said.

Mateer disagreed with Buzbee over the course of the cross-examination, remaining of the opinion that Paxton had acted to benefit Paul to the detriment of the attorney general's other clients and cases.

"I came to the conclusion that Mr. Paul had enabled Mr. Paxton, despite my efforts, the other deputies' efforts," he said. "You couldn't protect him, because he didn't want to be protected."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Ken Paxton impeachment: Aide recalls move to end Paxton-Nate Paul ties