AUSTIN, Texas – Attorney General of Texas Ken Paxton has responded to recent allegations that he committed crimes while serving the state of Texas.
On Saturday, several of Paxton’s top aides sent a letter to federal authorities asking for an investigation of the alleged crimes. According to a report by the Austin American-Statesman, Paxton is accused of improper influence, abuse of office, bribery and other potential crimes.
The Statesman reported that seven upper office executives submitted a one-page letter earlier this week, asking federal authorities to investigate Paxton “in his official capacity as the current Attorney General of Texas.”
The letter was sent to Texas' director of human resources on Thursday and says each executive “has knowledge of facts relevant to these potential offenses and has provided statements concerning those facts to the appropriate law enforcement,” according to the Statesman.
On Saturday, Paxton said the complaint "was done to impede an ongoing investigation into criminal wrongdoing by public officials including employees of this office.”
Paxton released the following additional statement on Monday saying that he would not resign:
“The Texas attorney general’s office was referred a case from Travis county regarding allegations of crimes relating to the FBI, other government agencies and individuals. My obligation as attorney general is to conduct an investigation upon such referral. Because employees from my office impeded the investigation and because I knew Nate Paul I ultimately decided to hire an outside independent prosecutor to make his own independent determination. Despite the effort by rogue employees and their false allegations I will continue to seek justice in Texas and will not be resigning.”
My statement regarding recent allegations from Office of the Attorney General employees ⬇️ pic.twitter.com/1KqlM5avtk
— Texas Attorney General (@TXAG) October 5, 2020