Lawyer Common Ken Paxton’s former high cop testified Friday that Paxton repeatedly pressured him to research Nate Paul’s “conspiracy theories,” even after legislation enforcement specialists discovered them to be “ludicrous” and debunked them via forensics and different means.
David Maxwell, a veteran legislation enforcement officer who served because the lawyer common’s director of legislation enforcement, stated he repeatedly advised Paxton that Paul was a prison — doubtlessly of historic proportions.
“I advised him Nate Paul was a prison,” Maxwell stated. “That he was working a Ponzi scheme that may rival Billie Sol Estes,” the notorious Texas conman who was convicted of stealing hundreds of thousands of {dollars} in federal crop subsidies within the Nineteen Sixties.
Relatively than heed the warnings by Maxwell — who served greater than three many years as a Texas Ranger — Paxton threatened to fireside him after he stated that he wouldn’t examine Paul’s weird claims. The risk, Maxwell stated, got here throughout a gathering with a “heated” Paul that Paxton attended however requested not be recorded.
“I knew then what his dedication was to Nate Paul and that he was not going to be deterred,” Maxwell stated. “He was offended with me as a result of I used to be not shopping for into the massive conspiracy idea.”
Maxwell was one of many whistleblowers who sued after they have been fired by Paxton after reporting him to legislation enforcement, and stated Paxton “ended my profession in a really unjust method.”
“I did nothing incorrect by standing up for proper,” he added.
This text initially appeared in The Texas Tribune.
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