Ken Paxton made an effort to keep his affair from his wife and the public. It might be his downfall.

 

In September 2018, Attorney General Ken Paxton gathered his staff to make a fateful confession.

With two months to go before Election Day — and holding hands with his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton — the attorney general reportedly told them about an extramarital affair. He said it was over and swore to recommit to his marriage.

But Ken Paxton didn’t — the first in a series of consequential choices that Texas House impeachment managers say set off a chain of alleged crimes and coverups that, five years later, has culminated in one of the most dramatic moments in Texas political history. The once-in-a-century impeachment trial that starts Tuesday is expected to center on Paxton’s infidelity, and could air out the sordid details of the staunch, Christian conservative’s life as he sits just yards away from his wife, and her 30 Senate colleagues who will serve as jurors to decide her husband’s fate.

House impeachment managers argue that Paxton, driven in large part by his desire to continue and conceal the tryst, went to great, impeachable — and potentially criminal — lengths to hide the betrayal from his wife, and from the deeply religious voters who have sustained his political life for two decades.

Citing nearly 4,000 pages of documents that were released last month, impeachment managers allege that Paxton repeatedly abused his office to help real estate investor Nate Paul’s faltering businesses amid an FBI raid, looming bankruptcies and a litany of related lawsuits. In exchange, Paul allegedly hired Paxton’s girlfriend so that she could move to Austin and helped Paxton clandestinely meet with her through a secret Uber account that the two men shared.

House impeachment managers argue that Paxton had every reason to keep the affair quiet. They point to his apparent burner phones and secret email addresses as evidence that he worried infidelity could destroy his political career.

“The affair is important because it goes to Ken Paxton's political strength,” Rep. Ann Johnson, a Houston Democrat who serves on the committee that investigated Paxton, said in May. “He knows that with his folks, he is ‘family values.’ He is a Christian man. And the idea of the exposure of the affair will risk him with his base.“

Angela Paxton, a McKinney Republican who will be present at the trial but is barred from voting, could not be reached for comment last week. Ken Paxton’s attorney, Tony Buzbee, declined an interview request and did not respond to a list of questions, citing a gag order in place ahead of the Senate trial.

For more read here: https://www.texastribune.org/2023/09/04/ken-paxton-affair-impeachment-trial-marriage/