Washington – The Department of Justice silently decided in the last weeks of the Biden Administration not to process Texas Ken Paxton attorney, effectively ending Corruption research that emitted a long shadow During the political career of a close ally of President Donald Trump, according to Associated Press.
The decision not to present positions, which have never been informed publicly, resolved the federal high -risk research before The new leadership of the Trump Department of Justice He could even take action on an investigation caused by the accusations of the intimate circle of Paxton that Texas’s Republican abused his position to help a political donor.
The measure occurred almost two years after the public integrity section of the Department of Justice in Washington He took charge of the investigationeliminating the case of the hands of federal researchers in Texas who had believed that there was sufficient evidence for an accusation.
Two people familiar with the matter, who spoke with Associated Press about the condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations, confirmed the decision of the department to refuse to prosecute. Although the date of the decision was not clear immediately, it was taken in the last weeks of the presidency of President Joe Biden, said one of the people.
The leadership of the Department of Justice appointed politically did not participate in the decision, which was recommended by a senior official of his career who had concerns about the ability of prosecutors to ensure a conviction, according to another person informed about the matter. The appointed politicians do not usually participate in the affairs of the public integrity section to avoid the appearance of political interference.
One of Paxton’s lawyers, Dan Cogdell, told the AP on Wednesday night that he had not been informed by the Department of Justice of any decision in the investigation, but said: “I never thought they had a case they could do.”
The Department of Justice declined to comment.
Paxton is weighing a career for the United States Senate next year, establishing a possible primary against Republican senator John Cornyn, ambitions that reflect their political durability despite spending years under clouds that also include Charges of Crime Shipping and an investigation carried out by the Texas State Bar Association about their efforts to annul the presidential elections of 2020, which Trump lost to Biden.
Federal research had been the most serious investigation that still faces Paxton, who resolved the case of securities fraud and was acquitted In the Texas Senate in 2023 following A historical accusation. Paxton agreed last year to pay almost $ 300,000 in restitution under an agreement to end the charges of fraud of criminal values for accusations that he cheated investors in a technological startup near Dallas.
The accusations against Paxton were impressive in part due to who made them.
Eight of his closest assistants denounced him to the FBI in 2020, accusing him of bribery and abusing his office to help one of his friends and campaign taxpayers, Nate Paul, who also used a woman with whom Paxton acknowledged An extramarital issue. The same accusations led to Paxton’s accusation about the articles of bribery and abuse of public trust, but was acquitted by the Texas Senate led by the Republicans, where his wife is a senator but did not vote during the trial.
Paul declared himself guilty In January, to a federal position after being accused of making false statements to banks to obtain more than $ 170 million in loans.
“After the November elections, the Department of Justice accepted a statement of guilt of Nate Paul and is apparently letting Ken Paxton escape from justice,” said TJ Turner and Tom Nesbitt, lawyers of two of the complainants, in a statement to the AP. “The DOJ clearly let the political cowardice impact his decision. The complainants, all strong conservatives, did the right thing and continue to support their accusations of criminal conduct from Paxton.”
The Public Integrity Section of the Department of Justice, which supervises the cases of public corruption, took over Paxton’s investigation in 2023. The Department of Justice has never publicly explained its decision to challenge federal prosecutors in western Texas who had been leading the investigation. The movement was pressed by Paxton’s lawyers.
Paxton said last year that he would not dispute complainants’ claims in a lawsuit that were dismissed inappropriately To inform Paxton to the FBI. His impulse to end the demand of the complainants came when he faced the probability of having to sit for a statement and answer questions under oath.
Paxton has become the most loyal supporters and defenders of Trump in recent years, and his name had been floated as a contender to lead the Department of Justice in Trump’s second mandate.
Paxton went to court in a sample of support last year when Trump was trial in Your New York Money Money Casethat ended in a conviction. And he was among several republican general prosecutors who traveled to Washington last month for Trump’s Campaign style speech in the Department of Justice in which the president promised a remuneration for what he described as the “lies and abuses that have occurred within these walls.”
There was a research activity in corruption investigation last August. Aaron Reitz, who was recently confirmed as Trump’s election to direct the legal policy office of the Department of Justice, was interrogated that month before a grand jury about the dismissal of Pxton’s complainants in 2020, Bloomberg’s law reported.
The members of the Congress asked Reitz, who served as Paxton’s assistant, who weigh his nomination to the Department of Justice to detail what he told the Grand Jury. Reitz refused to answer in a questionnaire sent to the Judicial Committee of the Senate in February, stating that federal investigation was ongoing.
“I think that Attorney General Paxton is innocent and has not committed crimes,” Reitz told the committee.
The 2021 Grand Jury records obtained by the Texas Drafting Room last year showed that the federal authorities were investigating Paxton for several potential crimes, including bribery and reprisals of witnesses. It is not clear if the scope or research approach changed when the public integrity section in Washington took over.
During Paxton’s trial, the former advisors testified that he pressed them to help the campaign donor, Paul, who was under FBI investigation. The testimony included arguments about who paid for the renovations of the houseWhether Paxton wore burning phones and how his alleged extramarital matter became a tension in the office. Paxton denounced the trial effort as a “politically motivated farce.”
