Rep. Chip Roy, Ken Paxton’s former 1st assistant, calls for Texas attorney general to resign

Posted: Oct 5, 2020 / 11:04 AM CDT

Updated: Oct 5, 2020 / 03:42 PM CDT

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Rep. Chip Roy has called for the resignation of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who now faces allegations of bribery and abuse of office by seven of his top aides.

Roy (R, TX-21) is a former first assistant to Paxton and becomes the first high-ranking Republican leader to directly call for Paxton’s resignation.

Gov. Greg Abbott said the allegations “raise serious concerns” but that he wouldn’t comment further until the results of any investigation were complete.

“The work of the Office of the Attorney General of Texas is too critical to the state and her people to leave in chaos and to risk the work of over 700 lawyers managing almost 30,000 legal cases at any given moment, including major cases before the U.S. Supreme Court, as well as processing over $4 Billion in Child Support,” Roy said in a statement.”The Attorney General deserves his days in court, but the people of Texas deserve a fully functioning AG’s office.”

In a letter dated Oct. 1, obtained by the Austin American Statesman, top aides to Paxton said the attorney general’s potentially-criminal behavior had been reported to appropriate law enforcement officials.

This letter, alleging criminal behavior against Texas Attorney General @KenPaxtonTX including bribery, is signed by well respected staff and it would be difficult to argue otherwise. Whacha think @KevinBrannon1? #txlege pic.twitter.com/a9ahNIwOg5
— Scott Braddock (@scottbraddock) October 4, 2020

“The complaint filed against Attorney General Paxton was done to impede an ongoing investigation into criminal wrongdoing by public officials including employees of this office,” a statement sent to KXAN from the Office of the Attorney General said in part.

“Making false claims is a very serious matter and we plan to investigate this to the fullest extent of the law,” the statement continued.

Paxton is still under indictment for separate, previous charges of felony securities fraud from 2015.

There is still no trial date set for that.

The Statesman report indicates First Assistant Jeffrey Mateer, and Deputy First Assistant Ryan Bangert were among the seven people who signed the complaint.

Paxton’s office would not comment further since it is an ongoing investigation.

KXAN reached out to the FBI, but a spokeswoman declined to comment due to their policy. The Travis County District Attorney’s office said they “do not have an investigation.”