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PREVIOUS COVERAGE: Paxton whistleblowers want lawsuit back in trial court
Four former members of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's office want the wrongful termination lawsuit they brought against him to be brought back to trial court. Paxton is threatening a separate legal action of his own.
AUSTIN, Texas - Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will not contest allegations in a lawsuit filed against him by four former employees who reported him to the FBI.
The whistleblowers, Blake Brickman, Ryan Vassar, Mark Penley and David Maxwell, claimed that Paxton abused the power of his office to help himself and political donor Nate Paul, and that they were unjustly terminated for reporting the attorney general to the FBI.
File photo of Ken Paxton (Photo by STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)
The claims prompted the impeachment trial against Paxton last September.
A Senate jury acquitted Paxton on all articles of impeachment.
In a court filing, the Office of the Attorney General said it could "obtain a verdict in this case in its favor," but decided to settle the lawsuit to "stop the self-aggrandizing political weaponization of our State’s courts by rogue employees who have what seems to be a monomaniacal goal to undermine the will of the voters."
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"Doing so precludes further unwarranted expense to the people of the State of Texas as well as the disruption to the State’s principal law enforcement arm—the time and personnel of which are more appropriately dedicated to the business of the State of Texas and not the personal, political agenda of four rogue, former employees," reads the filing on behalf of the OAG.
The filing also said that Paxton was "fully vindicated" after his acquittal in the Senate and that not disputing the lawsuit should "be construed as an admission that OAG, its employees, or the Attorney General violated any State or federal law."
The decision by the Attorney General is not a settlement.
A trial court judge will now be able to enter a final judgment.
The Attorney General's Office also said they will leave it to the Texas Legislature to decide whether and when to fund a judgment.
The original settlement in this case is what kickstarted impeachment proceedings, when House Republicans objected to using taxpayer money and opened their own investigation.
The filing comes days after the Texas Supreme Court ruled against Paxton's motion to end the lawsuit, opening the door to him testifying in the lawsuit.
The plaintiffs in the case call the filing a stunt so the Attorney General can avoid having to testify. They say the lawsuit is still on.