Witness details how Paxton hired him to dig into donor’s complaints with ‘some guts’

A lawyer testified Tuesday that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton hired him to investigate complaints by political donor Nate Paul, despite others in Paxton’s office finding Paul’s claims lacking merit.

The lawyer, Brandon Cammack, has been mentioned multiple times in Paxton’s impeachment trial by whistleblowers who raised concerns about their boss enlisting him as outside counsel. Paxton is accused of giving special attention to Paul’s legal troubles while accepting home renovations and a job for a woman with whom he was having an affair.

Much of the questioning throughout the trial has centered on the Attorney General’s Office’s involvement in reviewing complaints by Paul, an Austin real estate developer, over search warrants on his home and businesses. Paul, who donated $25,000 to Paxton in 2018, wanted a probe into federal and state officials he believed were involved in altering the documents.

Cammack described being recommended to the Attorney General’s Office as outside counsel by Paul’s attorney, Michael Wynne, in fall 2020. Paxton was looking to “hire a special prosecutor to investigate a criminal case where potentially there were potential violations of the Texas penal code,” Cammack said of his initial interview for the job.

Paxton told Cammack that his staff wasn’t working on what he wanted them to, Cammack testified. According to whistleblowers in the office, Paul’s allegations were conspiratorial. The Travis County district attorney, Margaret Moore, also declined to get involved in the Paul matter.

Cammack said he was “convinced” by what Paul and his attorney showed him, though he hadn’t formed an opinion on was going on.

“I was just like, hey, if what he’s showing me on how the search warrant was altered is true, this is a big deal,” Cammack said.

Cammack, who said he graduated from law school in 2015, said he was excited to be working on a project with the Attorney General’s Office. It was an opportunity to do something new with his career and try to help out, Cammack said.

“(Paxton) also said that the people in his office…, they weren’t investigating the case. They weren’t working on it,” Cammack said, recounting a conversation with his boss. “At that point I had learned there were some federal agents and people, I guess, in positions of power who were kind of involved in that. He made a comment that you’re going to need to have some guts to work on a case like this, and I was fired up about the opportunity to do it.”

Cammack said he later got a second referral from the Travis County District Attorney’s office for separate matters related to Paul dealing with claims related to alleged mortgage fraud. Paxton told Cammack the referral was within the scope of his contract.

Cammack testified that, at Paxton’s direction, he only reported to the attorney general and kept Paxton appraised on the investigation. To get in touch with Paxton, he would use the Signal app, at Paxton’s request, and would use non-official cell phone numbers and email addresses. He got a separate phone to contact Paxton. Cammack said he didn’t want to mistake Paxton’s call for a spam call.

Cammack said he repeatedly asked for credentials that identified him as working for the office, but never received them.

Paul’s attorney would send Cammack information related to Paul’s claims, including unsolicited information. Cammack said he viewed Paul as the complainant in the matter. Cammack testified he got the list of people to subpoena from Paul’s lawyer.

The subpoenas were sent primarily by email but some were delivered in person. Paul’s lawyer joined him for serving those, Cammack said, adding that he expressed reservations about whether that was inappropriate.

“Did you have any knowledge one way or another that some of the people you were sending subpoenas to were opposing counsel to Mr. Paul in civil litigation?” asked Rusty Hardin, one of the lawyers for the House impeachment managers.

“No, sir,” Cammack said.

“If you had known that, would you have done it?” Hardin asked.

“No,” Cammack said.

Cammack testified that he thought he was acting properly and got no indication otherwise until he received cease and desist letters from senior staff in the Attorney General’s Office who were whistleblowers to federal law enforcement. U.S. Marshals also went to his office.

Paxton instructed him to not talk to them without an attorney.

“I’m going and working, everything is OK — I’m getting affirmation that everything is all good,” Cammack said, describing his thoughts on a last-minute meeting with Paul, his attorney and Paxton. “And then all of the sudden I’ve got cease and desist letter, U.S. Marshal at my office, and I’m trying to figure out how did we go from that to this.”

He saw Paxton later that week at a meeting at Starbucks with Brent Webster, his first assistant.

Webster told Cammack his contract wasn’t “any good anymore” and he wouldn’t be paid.

“I think I ballparked it and said, well what about my $14,000 invoice, and he’s like, well ‘You’re going to have to eat that invoice. I’ve had to eat $40,000 invoices.”

Cammack was still on the stand late Tuesday afternoon.

The impeachment trial is in its sixth day. Senators will vote on whether to acquit or convict Paxton on the articles that include disregard of official duty and constitutional bribery. If removed from office, they’ll also vote on whether to bar him from running again in the future.

Former Travis County DA testifies

Monday ended with testimony from former Travis County District Attorney Margaret Moore. Paxton asked the DA’s office to investigate Paul’s claims, but after a deputy met with the attorney general and reported back, the allegations were believed to be “ridiculous,” Moore said.

“It was going nowhere,” Moore said of her office’s plans for the complaint.

Moore sent the claims back to David Maxwell, the attorney general office’s director of law enforcement at the time. Maxwell was among those to eventually report Paxton to law enforcement and join the whistleblower lawsuit.

“I expected David Maxwell and many of the criminal lawyers in the agency’s office would view this matter as absolutely baseless and not worthy of investigation,” Moore testified.

Much of the testimony from Moore and others Monday dove into the details of Cammack enlistment as outside counsel and his investigation into Paul’s claims. Grand jury subpoenas obtained by the lawyer were a critical moment that led to whistleblowers going to the FBI.

Moore testified that she didn’t know it at the time, but that representatives from her office were helping Cammack to get the subpoenas. Cammack described their role as administrative and not related to the subpoenas’ contents.

Tony Buzbee, one of Paxton’s attorney, questioned Moore about why she thought Paul’s allegations were ridiculous and pressed her on why she didn’t investigate. He said there have been other claims reported across the country where the FBI is accused of misconduct.

“It wasn’t just against the FBI,” Moore said. “It was a whole range of agencies. It was a conspiracy that I felt was absolutely incredible and without basis. That’s not just the FBI: The Texas Rangers , the U.S. Marshals, the U.S. Magistrate, the U.S. Attorney’s Office — all of those together — the securities board. That’s why I considered it incredible.”

Buzbee also question Moore sending the case to Maxwell, a former Texas Ranger, and pointed out that Mark Penley, who was a deputy attorney general in Paxton’s office, was a former assistant U.S. Attorney. Penley is among the whistleblowers and testified earlier in the impeachment trial.

Greg Cox, who previously worked in the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, also took the stand Monday.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.