Ken Paxton impeachment trial live updates: Halfway over? Trial could be over a week from now.

The first week of Ken Paxton's impeachment trial ended Friday afternoon, and there's reason to believe it could be over a week from now.

Before trial, both sides were given 24 hours to present their case and to question the other sides' witnesses. Heading into next week, House prosecutors have 13 to 14 hours remaining, and for Paxton's side the available time is similar.

Barring any lengthy delays, this could be over at the low end of Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick's two-to-three week estimate. The trial resumes at 9 a.m. Monday.

Through the trial's first four days — it began Tuesday because Monday was a holiday — the House called four witnesses. All four are former aides in the Attorney General's office who resigned or were fired after they made a whistleblower complaint against Paxton to the FBI in 2020.

The latest to testify was David Maxwell, a former Texas Ranger who served as the attorney general's law enforcement director. In testimony Friday, Maxwell said he cautioned Paxton about getting involved with Austin developer Nate Paul, who had requested Paxton's office to investigate the actions of law enforcement officials and a federal judge in a 2019 raid at his home.

Maxwell said Paul had a PowerPoint of six individuals he wanted the attorney general's office to investigate.

"If we followed it we would have committed several federal crimes," Maxwell said.

During cross-examination, Paxton's lawyer, Dan Cogdell, questioned Maxwell about what he called inconsistencies in statements he made to House investigators earlier this year.

For instance, he noted that Maxwell told the investigators that Paul received an envelope in a dark alley that the whistleblowers say may have contained a confidential law enforcement document.

But, in testimony Friday, Maxwell acknowledged he has no first-hand knowledge of that exchange.

There are eight whistleblowers in all. Given the time limitations for the House prosecutors, it remains to be seen if they will get to the remaining four.

Other non-whistleblowers have been subpoenaed to testify. They include Houston lawyer Brandon Cammack, who's named in an impeachment article for issuing nearly 40 subpoenas against Paul's adversaries at Paxton's request; Drew Wicker, a former Paxton confidante who says he overheard a conversation that suggested Paul may have paid for a Paxton home remodel; and Laura Olson, a woman with whom Paxton had an alleged extramarital affair.

Ex-Ranger David Maxwell says he warned Ken Paxton to avoid Nate Paul

In plainspoken testimony, David Maxwell, the former attorney general's law enforcement director, testified Friday that he met with Austin real estate developer Nate Paul — who's at the center of the bribery allegations against Ken Paxton — three times leading up to him joining other top aides in the office in reporting Paxton to the FBI.

The Texas House on May 27 overwhelmingly voted to impeach Paxton on 16 charges, including bribery and abuse of office, some of which involve his dealings with Paul.

Maxwell, who has worked in law enforcement for nearly a half-century and is a former Texas Ranger, said Paul concocted a "conspiracy theory" that Paxton believed alleging that a group of federal officials, including U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Lane, had altered a search warrant for Paul's property. Paul said he believed that federal agents obtained a search warrant for drugs and guns, but changed the subject of what they were looking for when they did not find drugs or guns.

"I told them if they believed that to be true why weren't they in the inspector general's office for the federal government," Maxwell said. "They danced around the answer but they felt like they were in the right place."

This summer, as a result of that federal investigation, Paul was arrested and indicted on eight counts of mortgage fraud. The indictment accuses him of doctoring records to inflate his assets on mortgage applications.

Maxwell is the fourth witness to be called by House prosecutors in the trial. All four are former aides in Paxton's office who made a complaint against their boss to the FBI in September 2020.

Maxwell said he did not think he had cause to open an investigation within the attorney general's office, nor did he think it was appropriate.

For example, Paul and his legal team believed the metadata on the warrant showed it had been altered, but Maxwell said his forensic experts determined that the metadata changed because federal employees had encrypted the warrant.

He said that Paxton became angry that Maxwell refused to open an investigation. On the third meeting with Paul, which Paxton attended, the attorney general "was supporting Nate Paul's position which is that we needed to do an investigation and he was pretty adamant about it," Maxwell said. "It became heated."

Maxwell said he told Paxton that "all you are doing is using the power and prestige of this office for your own purpose." He added that he cautioned Paxton to move on from Paul or risk getting indicted.

Last month, the American-Statesman reported that federal prosecutors in San Antonio seated a grand jury to consider testimony on Paxton's relationship with Paul.

Maxwell said Paxton's first assistant, Brent Webster, fired him in November, about a month after the whistleblowers reported Paxton to the FBI.

A clean-up at the Capitol

A day after he made a glaring misstep in his testimony, former attorney general aide Ryan Vassar returned to the Capitol on Friday to clean it up.

On Thursday, during a contentious cross-examination, Paxton's lawyer, Mitch Little, blasted Vassar for making a complaint against Paxton to the FBI that he said carried "no evidence."

Vassar said he and other office whistleblowers had a "good faith belief" that Paxton had committed a crime but agreed they had no evidence to support that belief.

Vassar is among eight former attorney general aides who made the complaint based on their observation that Paxton had abused his powers to assist Austin real estate developer Nate Paul, a campaign donor.

On Friday, Vassar was eager to clarify his statements from the day before.

"The absence of documents is the evidence I was referring to," he told Little. Later, after Little took a seat, House prosecutor Rusty Hardin asked questions and furthered the clean-up effort.

Discussing the FBI meeting, Hardin asked Vassar if he brought with him his "knowledge," "brain," and "experience." Vassar said he did.

"Do you realize in the legal world that is evidence?" Hardin said, drawing an objection from Little that Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick sustained.

Vassar, the former deputy for legal counsel, concluded his testimony around noon. The court is in recess for lunch until 1 p.m. House prosecutors have not announced their next witness.

Earlier in the morning, Patrick abruptly announced a 30-minute recess, and Sen. Borris Miles later revealed it was for him to attend to a personal matter. The postponement came right after Miles approached the judge's bench and whispered in Patrick's ear.

Another area of Vassar's testimony Friday focused on a foreclosure sale during the COVID-19 pandemic. House prosecutors say that Paxton ordered Vassar and another senior leader in the office, Ryan Bangert, to rush a legal opinion to reflect that the sales should be preempted by crowd size restrictions. This, they allege, aided Paul, who was on the verge of losing properties.

But, in his questions to Vassar, Little made the case that it was not the legal opinion that allowed for Paul to hold onto his properties but from Paul declaring bankruptcy.

That drew a challenge from Hardin, who noted that the day after the memo became public, Paul's lawyers cited it in a court filing to stop foreclosures.

Fourth day begins with more whistleblower testimony

The fourth day of suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's impeachment trial kicks off at 9 a.m. Friday, with continued testimony from Ryan Vassar, a former Paxton aide who sued the attorney general's office for wrongful termination in 2020.

Vassar's testimony is nearing the end. When the trial recessed Thursday, he was answering questions under an intense cross-examination from Mitch Little Paxton's lawyer.

Little accused Vassar of having "no evidence" when he and seven other attorney general's office senior officials made a complaint against Paxton to the FBI on Sept. 30, 2020. Vassar, Paxton's deputy for legal counsel, admitted they did not have hard proof but a "good faith belief" that Paxton had engaged in illegal behavior.

Vassar is only the third witness to testify, as the trial through three days has moved at a grinding pace. Like Vassar, the first two witnesses are also former Paxton aides: Jeff Mateer, first assistant, and Ryan Bangert, deputy first assistant.

Watch live: Witness testimony continues in Day 4 of Ken Paxton's impeachment trial

Paxton is facing 16 impeachment articles, including bribery and misuse of office for providing legal assistance favorable to a campaign donor: Austin real estate developer Nate Paul.

In questioning witnesses, Paxton's lawyers are laying a theory that the whistleblowers conspired with outside forces — including Gov. Greg Abbott's office — to target Paxton and remove him from office. Separately, they've made the case that the whistleblowers made assumptions about Paxton that turned out to be false but did nothing to correct the record.

On Thursday, Little floated a dubious theory that he called a "self licking ice cream cone."

He explained: "A self licking ice cream cone is when a bunch of employees at the attorney general's office begin to suspect their boss. They read it in the media. They believe what the media says. They report it to the FBI. Then, the media reports that you went to the FBI.”

A timeline of events topples that theory. The first news report on the whistleblowers' concerns came from the American-Statesman on Oct. 3, 2020. By then, the whistleblowers had already gone to the FBI.

Follow along here for live updates from the American-Statesman's Ryan Autullo and Tony Plohetski:

Ken Paxton impeachment trial recap: See what happened on day one

Ken Paxton impeachment trial recap: Here's what happened on day two

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Ken Paxton impeachment trial: Live updates from day four in Texas