Inside the Impeachment: Paxton on Trial — Day 5

Read more about the impeachment: https://thetexan.news/paxton_impeachment/

Today, attorneys in the impeachment trial questioned Mark Penley, called to the stand by the House Board of Managers. Penley served as the Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice at the Attorney General’s Office under Ken Paxton, and is one of the four former employees who joined the lawsuit under the Texas Whistleblowers Act. 

The prosecution then called Katherine “Missy” Cary, Paxton’s former chief of staff, to the stand, a long-time employee of the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) who provided details about Paxton’s affair and the inner workings of the agency.  

Gregg Cox, a former employee of the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, was called to testify, along with Margaret Moore, the former Travis County district attorney herself.  

Some big parts of the day included:

• Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is presiding over the trial, said that time for witness examination should be up by Thursday evening. The Senate would then begin deliberations, and Patrick said there would be no days off until a verdict is reached.
• In regards to Paxton requesting staff to look into Nate Paul’s allegations against federal authorities, Penley testified he thought it was “insane” that the OAG would investigate a U.S. magistrate and federal agents. 
• Penley said Paxton was “under Paul’s influence,” “biased against law enforcement to his detriment,” and that he feared he would be fired by Paxton if he could not convince the attorney general to distance himself from the Austin real estate developer. 
• Paxton and Penley reportedly met in McKinney four days before Penley and his colleagues went to the FBI.
• Penley testified that he had “circumstantial evidence” that the attorney general was being bribed, and Paxton’s defense questioned him as to why he did not tell his boss. The defense argued that Penley, like other whistleblowers, didn’t do his due diligence in investigating Paul’s allegations before reporting Paxton to law enforcement. 
• Cary testified that she overheard a conversation at an Austin restaurant regarding some personal information of the attorney general between a man and a woman she did not recognize. She took a photo of the woman, and spoke privately with Paxton about what she heard. Paxton told her that the woman was his realtor, and did not appear concerned. Cary later found out the woman was Laura Olson, with whom Paxton was having an extramarital affair.
• Recalling a meeting where Paxton, with his wife Sen. Angela Paxton (R-McKinney) in attendance, confessed to the affair in September of 2018, Cary said her “heart broke” for Sen. Paxton and that she believed the affair had ended at that point. She later testified that she found out the affair had continued in the summer of 2019. 
• Cary said that morale among OAG employees was low, particularly among the security detail and travel aides. She testified that Sen. Paxton would call the office to ask about the attorney general’s whereabouts, and that “the staff was sometimes uncomfortable answering those questions.”
• Cox was asked by the prosecution to describe “potential” crimes Paxton may have committed while in office. The defense brought forward the fact that Cox has applied for a job with the OAG after writing a memo outlining Paxton’s potential crimes.