Ken Paxton Impeachment Prosecutor: We’ve Got a Slam Dunk Case

Famed criminal defense attorney Dick DeGuerin—who has represented clients ranging from former U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay to convicted murderer and New York City real estate heir Robert Durst to cult leader David Koresh—is now determined to “save and protect the people of Texas from a crooked attorney general.”

“The depth of corruption is astonishing,” DeGuerin told The Daily Beast, referring to beleaguered AG Ken Paxton, who is facing 20 impeachment counts regarding a raft of alarming allegations that stretch back nearly a decade.

“It’s a matter of corruption, a matter of abuse of the public trust, a matter of misuse of public resources, flat-out bribery, perjury,” said DeGuerin, a one-time prosecutor who will help make the case on the House floor for Paxton’s conviction. “It’s just conduct that convinces anyone that looks at it fairly that the office of attorney general has been abused and used for personal gain.”

The evidence gathered thus far is “very strong,” and “will support every one of the 20 articles of impeachment,” according to DeGuerin.

Why Texas AG Ken Paxton’s Impeachment Is a Bipartisan Win

Paxton, a GOP superstar before his extraordinary fall from grace, was suspended from office on May 27, immediately after the Republican-controlled Texas House of Representatives voted 121-23 to impeach him. Investigators working for the legislature say the state’s top cop committed a litany of crimes while in office, including multiple felonies dating back nearly a decade. Late last month, they gave a stunning recap of Paxton’s alleged wrongdoing, accusing Paxton of, among many other things, misusing his position to protect real estate investor Nate Paul, a wealthy political donor, from foreclosure; targeting a charity that was suing Paul for fraud; obtaining a job for his mistress at Paul’s company; and firing four of his own top staffers for blowing the whistle on their concerns about his behavior.

Paxton is also accused of obstructing an investigation into allegations of securities fraud, for which he was indicted on felony charges in 2015. (“It curls my mustache,” Rep. Andrew Murr, the Republican chair of the House General Investigating Committee, said in response to the laundry list of allegations.) A staunch right-winger, Paxton openly celebrated the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade last year, has called for drag performers to be prosecuted, and has tried to make it harder for asylum-seekers to enter the country while making it easier for everyday citizens to carry guns.

Only two other state officials have been impeached in Texas history: Gov. James “Pa” Ferguson, who in 1917 was removed from office for misapplication of public funds (including using state dollars for auto repairs, stationery, and chicken salad), and District Judge O.P. Carrillo, who was drummed out of office in 1975 for personal use of public money and equipment, and filing false financial statements.

The impeachment investigation began in March, following Paxton’s attempt to use taxpayer funds to pay off a $3.3 million court settlement won by the wrongfully terminated whistleblowers, according to officials. In an appearance the month before on CBS News, Texas statehouse Speaker Dade Phelan said he didn’t think it was “proper use” of the monies. And Murr, the House General Investigating Committee chair, called the idea that Paxton could settle out of court, thereby avoiding a public trial using public dollars, “alarming and very serious.”

“No one person should be above the law, least not the top law officer of the state of Texas,” Rep. David Spiller, also a Republican, said in opening remarks preceding the vote to impeach.

DeGuerin said he got the call from Murr less than an hour after the vote and signed on right away.

“All I knew at the time was that they had voted on articles of impeachment,” he told The Daily Beast. “When I got them, the details were astounding.”

DeGuerin on Tuesday called Paxton’s $3.3 million gambit “the final straw.”

“I don’t think it’s a surprise [to anyone who has been watching],” he continued, describing Paxton’s misconduct as “blatant.” “It’s a matter of, he’s gotten away with it for so long, that finally enough was enough.”

DeGuerin said he and Russell “Rusty” Hardin Jr., who will be prosecuting Paxton’s impeachment alongside DeGuerin, are now waiting for the Texas Senate Rules Committee to set up the dates and process for the impeachment hearings, which DeGuerin expects to include sworn witnesses and cross-examinations.

After the successful vote to impeach him, Paxton lashed out in a public statement, insisting he was being targeted by “corrupted politicians in the Texas House” pointing to the “liberal” Phelan, who in fact has been venerated as a stalwart conservative by GOP officials.

“The ugly spectacle in the Texas House today confirmed the outrageous impeachment plot against me was never meant to be fair or just,” Paxton said in another statement two days later. “It was a politically motivated sham from the beginning.”

Former President Donald Trump, whose bid to overturn Joe Biden’s electoral victory in 2020 was supported by Paxton, quickly took the suspended AG’s side, calling the decision to impeach “very unfair” and threatening to “fight” any legislator who allowed the process to move forward.

And on Wednesday, Paxton‘s defense team held its first public press conference, with lead attorney Tony Buzbee calling the case “baloney.”

However, DeGuerin took pains to emphasize that the effort to impeach Paxton is a bipartisan one, telling The Daily Beast, “This was not a vote on party lines at all.”

“Seventy percent of the Republicans in the House voted to impeach someone in their own party,” DeGuerin said. “This harkens back to when Nixon was forced to resign, when his own party turned against him. Like I’ve said before, this is not political, it’s about integrity.”

Hardin declined to comment on the record to The Daily Beast, explaining that he did not want to muddy the waters or inadvertently provide any ammunition to either side in advance of Paxton’s trial, which is expected to begin sometime this summer.

Still, at a May 30 press conference announcing his and DeGuerin’s appointments, Hardin said of the accusations against Paxton, “I promise you, it's ten times worse than has been public.”

“This is not about a one-time misuse of office,” he said. “This is not about a two-time misuse of office. It’s about a pattern of misconduct.”

As an example, after Paxton was charged with securities fraud, he allegedly accepted a $100,000 donation to his legal defense fund from the president of a medical imaging firm his office was simultaneously investigating for Medicaid fraud, the Associated Press reported. He also took $50,000 from the family of Tom Gleason, a former ice cream company executive he later hired for an adviser role paying $95,000 a year, according to the AP. Gleason was reportedly fired within two months for sharing child pornography during a meeting.

Hardin, who also began his career as a prosecutor, has in more recent years represented clients ranging from baseball legend Wade Boggs, NFL quarterback Deshaun Watson, and the estate of late Texas oilman J. Howard Marshall against widow Anna Nicole Smith. He called himself an independent voter who has supported candidates on both sides of the aisle, and, like DeGuerin, reiterated the notion that the impeachment process played no favorites.

“I as a citizen was dumbfounded that the large amount of Republicans voted the way they did, and I salute them for it,” Hardin said at last week’s press conference. “Impeachment is not about punishing the offender, it is about protecting and serving the government and the public.”

This “is not political retribution by [Paxton’s] political enemies,” DeGuerin insisted to The Daily Beast, adding, “We’ve got people from all along the political spectrum on the prosecution team for the House of Representatives.”

Removing Paxton from office permanently will require a two-thirds vote by the Texas Senate, of which Paxton’s wife, Angela, is an elected member. In the interim, Gov. Greg Abbott installed former Texas Secretary of State John Scott to take his place.

If Paxton is acquitted, he will be reinstated as Texas AG, according to the Texas Tribune. His legal team consists of five attorneys from the AG’s office, plus an executive assistant, each of whom took leave from work to defend him—an arrangement DeGuerin said last week may itself violate ethics rules.

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