Ken Paxton asks Texas Supreme Court to prevent him from testifying

AUSTIN, Texas - Attorney General Ken Paxton is asking the Texas Supreme Court to step in and prevent him from being compelled to testify in a Travis County court over allegations he retaliated against whistleblowers in his office. 

Paxton filed a brief two weeks ago, saying he would not dispute the allegations against him. The mission has raised concerns about the legitimacy of the impeachment trial that was held in the Texas Senate, where Paxton was exonerated on all articles. 

Democratic analyst Ed Espinoza and Matt Mackowiak, chair of the Travis County Republican Party, joined FOX 7 Austin's Mike Warren to discuss.

MIKE WARREN: Matt, an outgoing Republican senator, has even called for a new impeachment. What do you make of that?  

MATT MACKOWIAK: Yeah. The attorney general's in a little bit of a tight spot here. While he was able to get through the the trial in the Senate after being impeached and having this article sent from the House to the Senate. The bill is coming due on the whistleblower lawsuit. And so this does get to an interesting legal question. And I should admit, I am no lawyer and I don't play one on TV. But it is an interesting question nonetheless. And that is, should you have to sit for a deposition when you are not contesting, the facts of the of the whistleblower case? And I think that's the argument he's making in this appeal to the Texas Supreme Court, it's clear the plaintiffs, the so-called victims in the whistleblower lawsuit, want to get to a deposition. They want to force him to either answer truthfully, truthfully, perjure himself, or plead the fifth. And I think those are the only three options he faces if the deposition goes forward on February 1st. So this is a tight, tight position for him to be in. I'm sure he doesn't want to be deposed. But the Supreme Court is now going to have a chance to weigh in and consider these issues. 

MIKE WARREN: Ed, the AG's admission of wrongdoing. Does that make the impeachment acquittals in the Texas Senate something of a sham? 

ED ESPINOZA: It calls them into question. Yeah. Because remember, not only is he asking to not have to sit for this upcoming hearing, but he also didn't sit or participate in the impeachment proceedings in the Senate. He'll do anything to avoid being on the stand. These are not the actions of an innocent man, and they're consistent in his opposition to want to be under oath. There is an easy solution to all of this, and it's that the Texas Supreme Court can deny his request and have him go through and sit under oath here in Travis County this Thursday. 

MIKE WARREN: You know, this question to both of you, the continuing drama of Ken Paxton ever since he got into office, the political class really cares about this. Does anybody else? We don't see public demonstrations about Ken Paxton or whether he's good or whether he's bad, whether he stays, whether he goes. The political class is all in on this, and everybody cares about it, obviously. But does it go beyond that? Does anybody else care? The last time the people had a chance to really say something about this, they voted him back in. Can you make the case to why other people beyond the political class should care about this? 

ED ESPINOZA: I think people absolutely do care about it. I just think they don't necessarily know about it. The farther you go down, a ticket with less people. 

MIKE WARREN: Generally, so if you're ignorant to something, you can still care about it. 

ED ESPINOZA: Yeah, because you just don't know about it. Absolutely. Look, I think people care about ethics and government. I think they care about law and order, especially from a party that calls itself the Law and Order Party. Look, this is a guy who has been under investigation since his first year in office, and not just for one thing, for multiple things. And let's keep in mind the whistleblowers, not Democrats. These are Republicans that walked out on him in suing an FBI investigation. So the impeachment happened after the last and after the last election. And let's remember something that people said was that that impeachment vote would be something that the legislature would be remembered by. And so one of the things that Dan Patrick said at the end of his speech was, and I quote, our founders expected better. I wonder if he still believes that given where Patrick is or Paxton is saying now. 

MIKE WARREN: Matt. Yeah. How would this resonate with people? And do you think they care? 

MATT MACKOWIAK: Yeah. Look, it's a great question, Mike. I mean, in the end, I think there's two facts that have to be put on the table. The first is Ken Paxton hasn't been convicted of anything. That doesn't necessarily mean he's innocent. It just means he hasn't been convicted. The second is that, the voters have made clear that they want him to be attorney general, at least as of November 2022. And that was after going through a four-way primary with three credible people who had a political base and had money in the primary, in the primary runoff and then running against a credible Democrat in the general election. So he has won what, his third term, I believe it is, the voters have put him back in office. He certainly has some of these legal things ahead of him that he has to get through. There's no question. 

MIKE WARREN: All right. We were at a time, but this saga goes on. Matt. Ed, thank you both very much.