AUSTIN — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton leveraged news Thursday that the Justice Department declined to prosecute him to attack his likely primary opponent, U.S. Sen. John Cornyn.
Justice Department officials effectively ended their corruption investigation into Paxton in the final weeks of Joe Biden’s presidency, just before allies of President Donald Trump were confirmed to lead the federal agency, The Associated Press reported.
Paxton has repeatedly signaled his intent to challenge Cornyn for his Senate seat in Washington, recently participating in rare national interviews with print and digital media outlets and frequently targeting Cornyn online.
He shared an online screenshot Thursday of the Justice Department news while reviving a February 2024 spat with Cornyn, who told Paxton at the time it would be “hard to run from prison” after the attorney general suggested the senior Republican senator will have “a highly competitive primary” in the 2026 cycle.
“This former TX Supreme Court Justice and TX Attorney General ignored the rule of law, the Constitution, and innocent until proven guilty while standing with the corrupt Biden DOJ cheering on the bogus witch hunts against both me and President Trump,” Paxton wrote on X. “Care to comment now, John?”
Cornyn launched his reelection campaign last month for another six-year term, and his campaign touted an endorsement Thursday from the National Border Patrol Council.
Cornyn initially declined to engage with Paxton’s comments, telling The Dallas Morning News he won’t talk about the attorney general “until he’s a candidate — then I’d have a lot to talk about.”
But after being told what Paxton said, Cornyn responded: “Is this the same person that had a $6.6 million judgment entered in Travis County based on the whistleblower complaints, and he didn’t contest any of the allegations? I’m confused.”
Whistleblowers from the attorney general’s office who were fired after reporting Paxton to law enforcement for allegedly violating the law are seeking a $6.7 million judgment. Paxton’s office agreed in a January 2024 legal filing “not to contest any issue of fact in this case, as to the claim or damages.”
Dan Cogdell, an attorney for Paxton, said he was he wasn’t informed of the Justice Department’s decision and was surprised to learn it came during Biden’s istration “because in my view it was so politically driven.”
“They don’t return my phone calls, and they don’t return my emails because they’re important, and I’m not,” Cogdell said. “I asked them repeatedly for information, for direction, for guidance. ... I never had any open line of communication with them.”
Paxton said Biden’s Justice Department was “weaponized” against him because he sued the istration more than 100 times.
“Even the corrupt Biden DOJ knew this bogus witch hunt was politically motivated nonsense,” he wrote on X.
The news came hours before a Texas Senate committee took up a bill to reform the state’s impeachment process after the House’s impeachment of Paxton in 2023.
The House impeached him over alleged bribery, abuse of office and obstruction of justice in relation to allegations he used his powerful office to benefit real estate developer and campaign donor Nate Paul, who renovated Paxton’s Austin home and employed a woman Paxton was reportedly seeing.
The Senate acquitted Paxton after a two-week trial. Paul pleaded guilty in January to one count of making a false statement to a financial institution and is expected to be sentenced later this month.
A recent audit found the impeachment process cost Texas taxpayers more than $5 million.
Texas lawmakers aim to update the Legislature’s impeachment process.
of the Texas Senate State Affairs Committee heard testimony Thursday afternoon on SB 2051, filed by Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-Granbury. Rep. Cody Vasut, R-Angleton, filed House Bill 5492, which has not yet been referred to a committee.
The proposals aim to push a constitutional amendment before voters.
Such an amendment would ask voters to approve requiring testimony during the impeachment process to be given under oath in a session open to all of the Texas House, all of a House committee if the latter is conducting the proceeding and all senators during a trial.
A House committee that investigates during the impeachment process would be required to submit a report and related materials to each House member at least 72 hours before the chamber begins deliberating, and another 72 hours would need to between the end of deliberation and an impeachment vote.
Legislators would be ineligible to vote if the subject of the impeachment is “related within the third degree by consanguinity or affinity,” a range between a great grandparent, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew or great grandchild to a grandparent-in-law, brother- or sister-in-law or grandchild-in-law.
Paxton’s wife, Republican Angela Paxton of McKinney, is a state senator. She was not able to vote on his acquittal or attend deliberations.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick complained for more than a year that former Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, had refused to turn over House impeachment documents for a state audit.
Current Speaker Dustin Burrows, R-Lubbock, turned in two boxes of records last month, and the audit revealed a taxpayer tab of $5.1 million.
Staff writers Joseph Morton and Nick Wooten contributed to this report.