Ken Paxton impeachment trial live updates: Prosecutors rest case; defense calls first witness

Day 7 of Paxton's impeachment trial ends in dramatic fashion

The seventh day of suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's impeachment trial came to a close Wednesday evening after House prosecutors rested their case, leading Paxton's defense team to file a motion to dismiss the 16 charges against Paxton outright but later withdrew the motion.

In a day that had witnesses testify on whether Paxton had his home that he shares with his wife, Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, in Austin's Tarrytown neighborhood remodeled and paid for by Nate Paul, an Austin real estate developer and Paxton campaign donor, and interfered with litigation involving Paul and the Mitte Foundation, the proceeding closed Wednesday in dramatic fashion.

Senators left the floor after 5:30 p.m. for a private deliberation in response to Paxton's motion to dismiss that charges and then returned just shy of an hour later, continuing the trial.

As the trial moved on from the withdrawn motion, the defense called its first witness, Michael Gerhardt, a law professor at the University of North Carolina. But before Gerhardt took the stand, Patrick ended the trial day based on an "elongated discussion" with both legal teams at the bench.

After the proceeding ended for the day and senators left the floor, the bench discussion between the trial's presiding officer and legal teams remained ongoing.

Meanwhile, the much anticipated testimony by Laura Olson, the woman with whom Paxton reportedly had an affair, which was expected earlier in the day, never happened as Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the trial's presiding officer, excused her from taking the witness stand.

Patrick said Olson was present in the building as she was called to testify by House impeachment managers, but he announced around 4:30 p.m. that Olson would not take the stand.

"She is present but has been deemed unavailable to testify," Patrick said from the dais without elaborating.

In his testimony earlier Wednesday afternoon, Blake Brickman, a former Paxton deputy, said that Paxton's office felt "extremely hostile," explaining that he and other whistleblowers thought Paxton was using the attorney general's office to Paul's gain and lied to the public and lawmakers about their relationship. That led to eight top aides in Paxton's office to complain about the attorney general's behavior to the FBI and file a lawsuit against the attorney general for firing them after they came forward with their accusations, including bribery and abuse of office.

"I think Ken Paxton lied to the public for two years about our case," Brickman said of the pending whistleblower suit against Paxton. "So, not only did we not have discovery he did the opposite and lied to the public about our allegations."

Paxton tried to settle the suit earlier this year through a $3.3 million legislative appropriation, prompting the House to instead open an investigation against the attorney general, leading to his impeachment.

Drew Wicker, Paxton's former executive assistant, testified in the afternoon that during a home renovation brought on by weather damage to the Paxtons' primary bedroom, the lead contractor on the job brought up Paul, Paxton's friend, on three occasions related to the cost of the project.

Combatting the accusation that Paul paid for new granite countertops in Paxton's home, Tony Buzbee, Paxton's attorney, walked through a series of financial documents that detailed a wire transfer of $121,000 from Paxton's account to Cupertino Builders, indicating that Paxton paid for the renovations himself.

In again questioning the witness, House prosecutor Erin Epley argued that Cupertino Builders, a company registered in Delaware, had not set up a Texas affiliate until after the dates of the renovations and wire transfers.

More details of Wednesday's action can be found in the live blog below. The court of impeachment will resume at 9 a.m. Thursday to begin Day 8.

Laura Olson unavailable to testify; House prosecutors rest their case against Paxton

Laura Olson, the woman with whom suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had a extramarital affair, was deemed "unavailable" to testify during Wednesday's impeachment proceeding and was seen leaving the Capitol shortly after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is presiding over the trial, made the announcement.

Patrick said Olson was present in the building as she was called to testify by House impeachment managers, but Patrick's statement before the court around 4:30 p.m. indicated that Olson's anticipated testimony would not be heard.

"She is present but has been deemed unavailable to testify," Patrick said from the dais without elaborating.

Appearing to respond to questions from a senator-juror, Patrick said: "The statement has been made by the court, it says what it means.”

Shortly after the announcement that Olson would not testify, House impeachment prosecutors rested their case against Paxton. Paxton's legal team followed with a motion stating that there is insufficient evidence to go forward with the case against Paxton.

A number of conversations on the Senate floor between senators followed the announcement, as all motions looking to throw out an article of impeachment requires a vote by senators.

Currently, senators are meeting privately to discuss the matters before them, absent Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, who is not allowed to vote or deliberate with her colleagues on her husband's trial outcome.

Former Paxton deputy says attorney general lied to the public: 'What happened to us should never ever happen to any other public servant'

Blake Brickman said he was fired from suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton's office 15 days after Brent Webster, Paxton's newly named first deputy at the time the attorney general's other top aides complained about Paxton to the FBI in 2020, walked into his office alongside a woman with a gun, demanding Brickman agree to a meeting with him.

In his testimony Wednesday afternoon, Brickman laid out why the office felt "extremely hostile" and the reasons behind the whistleblowers' decision to report Paxton's conduct to law enforcement and file a lawsuit against the attorney general.

"I think Ken Paxton lied to the public for two years about our case," Brickman said of the pending whistleblower against Paxton, which Paxton attempted to settle earlier this year through a $3.3 million legislative appropriation, prompting the House to initiate the impeachment probe against the attorney general. "So, not only did we not have discovery he did the opposite and lied to the public about our allegations."

Brickman, who remains on the stand as the chamber takes an afternoon break, said Paxton lied in response to a letter from Rep. Jeff Leach, R-Plano, who was seeking clarity on how the office was continuing to conduct its business in the face of the whistleblowers complaints.

In response to the concerned letter from Leach, who sits as a House impeachment manager, Paxton said things at the office were running smoothly.

"Regular business is moving forward at full capacity, that is 100% false," Brickman said of Paxton's response letter to Leach.

Brickman, who served as a deputy over policy and strategic initiatives, overseeing relations with the Legislature, was left out the decisions that went into responding to Leach's letter and had been kicked out of previous meetings by Webster.

"Like I mentioned earlier, Brent showed up in my office with a woman with a gun," Brickman said. "It was an extremely hostile work environment."

Deciding to go to the FBI after witnessing what he viewed as "brazen" conduct meant to help Nate Paul, an Austin real estate developer and Paxton campaign donor, Brickman was tired of Paxton's conduct to help Paul stave off foreclosures on some of his properties and conduct and investigation on Paul's behalf into multiple law enforcement agencies.

"We took firsthand personal knowledge of Ken Paxton's illegal, immoral and unethical conduct to federal law enforcement officers," Brickman said.

In response to trying to settle the whistleblower lawsuit as Paxton offered payment, Brickman said he didn't want money, but would agree to drop the lawsuit if Paxton apologized for calling the deputies "rogue employees" and not challenge an appeals court ruling that favored the whistleblowers.

Paxton came back offering more money, which led to a $3.3 million dollar settlement that fell apart after House lawmakers declined to appropriate the payment, instead launching an impeachment inquiry into Paxton.

"I did it because I wanted future Texas public servants to know that the whistleblower law applies in this state," Brickman said of his involvement in the making the complaint against Paxton.

Paxton's team's cross examination of Brickman is yet to begin as the trial remains in an afternoon break.

Buzbee argues Paxton paid for home renovation; House managers seek to alter trial rules

To begin Wednesday's afternoon trial session, suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's lawyer, Tony Buzbee, questioned Drew Wicker, Paxton's former executive assistant, about his knowledge of a kitchen countertop in Paxton's Tarrytown home and the affair Paxton had with Laura Olson.

Earlier in his testimony, Wicker said that during a home renovation brought on by weather damage to the Paxtons' primary bedroom, the lead contractor on the job brought up Nate Paul, a former real estate developer and Paxton campaign donor, when discussing the cost.

Wicker testified later that Paul's name came up in respect to the renovation's cost on three occasions.

Combatting the accusation that Paul paid for new granite countertops in Paxton's home, Buzbee walked through a series of financial documents that detailed a wire transfer of $121,000 from Paxton's account to Cupertino Builders, indicating that Paxton paid for the renovations himself.

In again questioning the witness, House prosecutor Erin Epley argued that Cupertino Builders, a company registered in Delaware, had not set up a Texas affiliate until after the dates of the renovations and wire transfers.

After a series of objections, a photo of the countertop taken last month comparing to the time of the renovation was allowed into evidence by presiding officer Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick.

Buzbee made the point, to Wicker's confirmation, that the countertops appeared unchanged.

"We could right now, if the court would allow it, get on a bus and drive over to Tarrytown and look at the Paxton's countertops," Buzbee said, eliciting Patrick's response that he could allow the court to take the field trip.

Buzbee then took Wicker to task on how much he knew about Paxton's affair with Olson, which Wicker said he only knew based on the brief encounter at the elevator bank at the Omni Hotel.

"So you don't have any personal knowledge about their relationship other than you saw a woman come out of the elevator right?," Buzbee asked.

"I saw Laura Olson come out of the elevator," Wicker said in response.

With Wicker still on the stand, the trial stalled for some time as both legal teams argued procedural matters tied to evidence.

Earlier in the day, House managers introduced a motion to alter the Senate's trial rules. The motion, which senators may vote on tomorrow morning after 11:30 a.m. based on existing rules, would allow a conviction vote on an article of impeachment to automatically ban Paxton from seeking elected office in Texas in the future.

Current rules require two separate votes, one on whether or not to convict or acquit Paxton and one, if convicted, on if he should be permanently banned from office.

Olson, the woman Paxton had an extramarital affair with, is expected to testify sometime later this afternoon. According to trial rules, she can be called to the stand starting around 4 p.m.

Wicker's testimony concluded just shy of 3 p.m. House managers have now called Blake Brickman, a whistleblower and former deputy to Paxton, to testify.

Ken Paxton's former executive assistant testifies on home remodel, Paxton's affair and avoiding the FBI

Drew Wicker, suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's former executive assistant, testified Wednesday that as the FBI reached out to him in relation to a 2020 whistleblower compliant stemming from Paxton's conduct in his office, Paxton did not want Wicker to meet with the federal agents.

He said the attorney general's office offered to provide him an attorney in response to the situation, but "indicated they would not like me to talk to the FBI."

During a conversation with Brent Webster, Paxton's new first assistant after the whistleblowers' complaint, Webster told Wicker that they believed there were grounds for attorney client privilege and hoped to avoid meeting with the FBI.

"He said that I ran the risk of incriminating myself," Wicker recalled Webster, who is on Paxton's impeachment defense team, saying during the conversation.

Wicker, who served in close proximity to Paxton as his first assistant and calendar scheduler, testified that he had grown increasingly concerned with Paxton's conduct in the 2020 summer and into the fall. Part of that feeling was born out of a brief encounter with Paxton and a woman he came out of an elevator with at an Omni Hotel.

Remembering the interaction between Paxton and the woman — who Wicker testified was Laura Olson, Paxton's alleged mistress — Wicker said the two were having a spirited conversation in the elevator before the doors opened and Paxton stepped out wearing athletic clothes and Olson quickly walked away.

"It did spur some questions," Wicker said about the brief encounter.

Wicker testified that he was not originally concerned with Paxton's daily schedule and priorities but that later changed as more unusual requests came and as Paxton had conversations using multiple cell phones, as many as four, and sometimes using Wicker's own cell phone to make calls that Paxton then deleted from the phone's history.

"I was receiving some new requests in terms of both transportation as well as documentation and scheduling, and I was trying to understand the best way to handle that with my boss, General Paxton," Wicker said.

A renovation of Paxton's home also raised questions, as Wicker was involved in communicating with contractors to address weather related damage that mostly applied to the Paxtons' master bedroom.

Renovations in the kitchen warranted further concern, Wicker said of a proposed $20,000 kitchen renovation that included new counter tops. When addressing the new additions the lead contractor for the job, Kevin Wood, said he would talk to Paul.

"Kevin Wood stated that he would 'check with Nate' on several of the items," Wicker testified.

Wicker then addressed his concern directly with Paxton. Wicker testified that Paxton thanked him for bringing it up directly with him, assuring Wicker that Paul was not involved in the renovation.

Wicker said he left that conversation feeling uneasy about Paxton's response.

"I never discussed it after that with him," Wicker said.

In early November 2020, Wicker left the attorney general's office, requesting he lose access and stop receiving a paycheck. Wicker did continue to get a monthly "stipend" from Paxton's campaign into the next year, which Wicker asked to stop receiving.

"I didn't do the work," Wicker said, testifying that he later returned the money.

"I didn't want it to appear as though I might have any conflict of interest if anything like this ever came about," he said about a possible future inquiry into Paxton's conduct.

Wicker remains on the stand Wednesday afternoon as the trial paused for a mid-morning break, cross examination by Paxton's team will begin when the trial resumes.

Paxton's mistress expected this afternoon; Mitte Foundation gets out of relationship with Nate Paul

Beginning the day calling Laura Olson, suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's former mistress, to the witness stand before having to reverse course due to trial rules, Ray Chester instead kicked off witness testimony on day 7 of the impeachment trial and explained that the Mitte Foundation was in line to receive a substantially lower settlement in litigation against Nate Paul as Paxton's office intervened in the case.

Chester, an attorney that represented the Mitte Foundation in the lawsuit in which Paul, a former Austin real estate developer and Paxton campaign donor, was accused of fraud.

Chester described a decade-long relationship between Paul and the foundation, which is a private charity based in Brownsville and partially represented by RJ Mitte, an actor who played the role of Walt Jr. from the TV show "Breaking Bad," as initially fruitful before turning confrontational.

Over several separate million dollar deals over the years, Chester said the first couple were successful transactions before Paul tried to "swindle" the foundation prior to the last deal with World Class Holdings, Paul's business, which spurred the latest lawsuit in which the foundation received a settlement of over $23 million after a real estate sale.

Chester said the foundation would have been forced to lose nearly $17 million had they settled with terms being forwarded when the attorney general's office intervened.

"Overall, we would have received pennies on the dollar," Chester said

Mitch Little, Paxton's defense attorney, responded to Chester's testimony that the business relationship that originated with a $3 million investment seemed to grow substantially in the foundation's favor.

"The Mitte Foundation invested $3 million with Nate Paul and they're gonna get $23 million dollars back?," asked Mitch Little, Paxton's defense attorney, painting the business relationship as fruitful.

Following Chester's brief testimony, Drew Wicker, Paxton's former executive assistant, took the stand. However, the trial's pace has slowed as both legal teams have objected, approached the bench to discuss matters with the presiding officer and expressed concerns about time constantly during Wicker's testimony.

To start the day, House prosecutors had 5 hours, 17 minutes left to present evidence with Paxton's defense team with 9 hours, 57 minutes in the bank.

Olson, Paxton's alleged mistress, will be eligible to testify beginning at 3:53 p.m., based on trial rules that witnesses receive 24 hour notice when they are called to the stand.

Paxton's impeachment trial ready for Day 7

As day seven of suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's impeachment trial begins Wednesday, more testimony is expected as both House prosecutors and Paxton's defense team near their time limits for presenting evidence, possibly setting up jury deliberations by the weekend.

The trial, which ended abruptly Tuesday evening without any word from presiding officer Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, is anticipated to begin at 9 a.m. Wednesday, although Patrick did not clarify at day's end Tuesday.

Patrick also did not indicate how much time remains on the clock for both sides to present evidence.

Dick DeGuerin, attorney for the House impeachment managers, said while leaving the Texas Senate chamber Tuesday evening his side has around six hours remaining on the clock. It is unclear how much time Paxton's team has to present evidence after starting Tuesday with over 12 hours on the clock, and splitting the nine hour session with House prosecutors. Each side was granted a total of 24 hours at the outset of the trial and will have an additional hour for closing arguments.

Tuesday came to a close after a testimony-filled session which saw former office employees; attorney Brandon Cammack, who was hired by Paxton to help in an investigation of law enforcement that his top aides found no merit to investigate; and the CEO of a company that expected to foreclose on properties held by Nate Paul, a former real estate developer and Paxton campaign donor, continue to make the case that Paxton handed the attorney general's office's keys to Paul.

Outside of the whistleblowers and Cammack, several other high interest witness have been subpoenaed to testify, including 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 extramarital affair.

Patrick in both opening and closing the trial session on Monday told senators, who are sitting as Paxton's jury, and spectators to expect the proceedings through the rest of the week to run into the evening, with jury deliberations possibly coming later this week or on the weekend.

Follow along here for live updates from the American-Statesman's Hogan Gore and Tony Plohetski.

Past coverage:

Takeaways from Day 5: Paxton impeachment opens with 9/11 remembrance, testimony on alleged affair

What happened yesterday?: Updates from Day 5 of suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton's

Good to know: Who are the key players in Paxton's impeachment trial?

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Paxton impeachment live: prosecutors rest case against attorney general