Inside the Impeachment: Paxton on Trial — Day 6 (with Brendan Steinhauser)

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

Today, attorneys in the impeachment trial questioned Brandon Cammack for most of the day, the special counselor Paxton retained on behalf of the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) to investigate the complaints of Austin real estate developer Nate Paul against federal authorities. 

Toward the end of the day, some additional witnesses were called to testify, including Joe Brown, who testified about applying for the special counsel job; Kendall Garrison, CEO of Amplify Credit Union; and Darren McCarty, a former employee of the OAG. 

Some big parts of the day included:

• The proceedings started about an hour late. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said that the chamber was ready on time, but that the legal teams had an issue to work out before the proceedings began. 
• Brandon Cammack, who got married a week ago and has yet to honeymoon due to the trial, testified that he was hired by Paxton himself to serve as outside counsel for the OAG. He said the attorney general said he wanted to hire a “special prosecutor” to investigate “potential violations of the Texas Penal Code.”
• Cammack was recommended to Paxton by Michael Wynne, Nate Paul’s lawyer. He said he was “excited” and “flattered” to be working with the OAG.
• “The only person I reported to was Mr. Paxton,” said Cammack when asked about the allegations that he was working for the Travis County District Attorney’s Office. He said he primarily communicated with Paxton via an encrypted messaging app and Proton email addresses.
• Cammack, who issued over 30 grand jury subpoenas in his investigation to evaluate Paul’s allegations against federal authorities, said he got the list of names to be subpoenaed from Wynne and Paul. He said he had never issued a grand jury subpoena at the time.
• Per Cammack, U.S. Marshals showed up at his law office in Houston after he questioned a judge about his deceased wife in his investigation. 
• Cammack voiced his concerns to Paxton and Brent Webster, the first assistant attorney general who replaced Jeff Mateer, at a meeting at a Starbucks in Austin. He testified that Webster informed him there that his contract with the agency was null and void and that he would not be paid for his work. 
• Paxton’s defense pushed back against the line of questioning that asserted Cammack was naive and inexperienced in his role with the OAG.
• Cammack insisted that he never thought he was investigating a “baseless” allegation and said that Paxton did not “pressure” him to reach a particular conclusion. He testified that he was not trying to help or hurt Paul, allegations outlined in one of the articles of impeachment.
• The Houston-based lawyer testified that, “I never got any pushback from anyone at the attorney general’s office or the Travis County District Attorney’s Office” until he received a cease and desist letter from Mateer, the OAG’s first assistant attorney general at the time. 
• Brown, a former assistant U.S. attorney, briefly testified about applying for the special counsel role that Cammack filled.
• Garrison was questioned about the “midnight opinion” allegedly written to help Paul and his business, and testified about Paul defaulting on loans he owed to the credit union.
• McCarty, who was the deputy attorney general for civil litigation at the OAG, resigned from the office but did not join the whistleblower lawsuit. He gave testimony about the attorney general’s intervention in the Mitte Foundation lawsuit.