AUSTIN – Tensions grew over the second day of Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial as the first witness was interviewed and cross-examined.
The day was marked with sharp exchanges in the chamber as the impeachment team interviewed its first witness, and Paxton lawyer Tony Buzbee cross-examined him.
Jeffery Mateer, the former first assistant at the Office of Attorney General (OAG), was called to the stand by the House-employed attorney Rusty Hardin at the close of the first day and the beginning of the second.
Mateer is one of the whistleblowers who alleged to the FBI that Paxton had participated in potentially illegal actions in connection with Austin-based businessman Nate Paul.
His testimony was intended to set the stage for the impeachment and provide the framework for the House’s arguments against Paxton. However, examination of the witness appeared difficult for the lawyers on both sides of the case.
Hardin, the lead attorney for the House impeachment managers, elicited testimony from Mateer indicating that he and others in the OAG believed Nate Paul was exhibiting undue influence over Paxton. Hardin struggled with Mateer, his own witness, who often interrupted Hardin or gave prohibitively long answers.
“We are under a strict time limit,” Hardin frequently reminded Mateer.
Mateer spoke about his relationship with Paxton and his concerns regarding Paxton’s connection to Paul, highlighting certain actions he considered inappropriate or unusual.
He discussed what he claimed was a legal opinion issued by the OAG in 2020 that reportedly froze certain types of foreclosures due to ongoing COVID concerns. The House claimed that Paxton ordered the issuance of this opinion to the benefit of Nate Paul, according to Impeachment Article 2.
Mateer suggested that “it was as if Dr. Fauci had written it,” seemingly contrary to the general policy adopted by Paxton to push for the removal of COVID restrictions.
The former staffer detailed other allegations he had heard and described what led him to eventually go to the FBI.
“The attorney general is not above the law,” Mateer noted. “He has to follow the law like the rest of us.”
As first assistant, “One of my jobs was to protect the attorney general, and I obviously failed at that,” Mateer continued. “I couldn’t protect him because, ultimately, he didn’t want to be protected.”
“Mr. Paul enabled him,” Mateer alleged, but added, “Ultimately, the attorney general is responsible for his conduct.”
Tony Buzbee began his cross-examination by digging into Mateer’s claim that he had been close to Paxton and dedicated to protecting the AG.
“What you did to protect Ken Paxton is call the FBI?” Buzbee grilled. “Did you talk to Ken Paxton before you called the FBI?”
Mateer admitted, “I did not talk to Ken Paxton.”
Throughout the cross-examination, Mateer raised his voice at Buzbee, causing Buzbee to ask him to “take it easy.”
At one point, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick stepped in to tell Mateer to calm down and stop interrupting Buzbee. Mateer sometimes turned and pleaded with Patrick outside the microphone’s reach, seemingly seeking a bastion against Buzbee’s questioning.
During the direct examination, Mateer criticized Paxton for hiring outside counsel to investigate a complaint by Nate Paul that the federal government had mistreated him. Mateer and the House insisted that Paxton had hired Houston attorney Brandon Cammack to unduly benefit Paul.
What Mateer did not know, Buzbee revealed, was that the Austin District Attorney’s Office had also requested that Cammack investigate the issue.
“You had no clue that there had been a second referral from the Austin DA directly to Brandon Cammack,” he pressed.
“I didn’t know what he was doing,” Mateer answered.
“You know what you could’ve done?” Buzbee quipped. “You could have picked up the phone and called your boss.”
“Instead, what you did is rallied the troops, get your stories together, and go to the FBI,” the lawyer alleged. “One, the FBI. Two, the office of the governor.”
Mateer and the whistleblowers had also gone to the office of Gov. Greg Abbott and expressed their concerns to some top staffers.
Buzbee also zeroed in on the substance of the first impeachment article that centered on the OAG’s intervention in the actions of a nonprofit called the Mitte Foundation, which had sued companies owned by Nate Paul. He suggested that the article was of special importance.
Mateer himself had signed off on the order to intervene.
“Isn’t it ironic that the first witness called … on the first article of impeachment,” Buzbee asked, “… approved that intervention?”
“This irony, I guess, is lost on me,” Mateer responded.
The effect of Buzbee’s cross-examination seemed to substantially unsettle Mateer. Some observers thought the cross was devastating to the House’s impeachment effort, with former Reno, Texas, mayor and political commentator John Basham suggesting that Buzbee “absolutely eviscerate[d] the very first star witness ‘whistleblower.'”
