Recently reinstated Attorney General Ken Paxton claims that the establishment political class was behind the failed attempt to remove him from office.
During an interview with Tucker Carlson, Paxton pointed specifically at the administration of President Joe Biden, establishment GOP operative Karl Rove, and the political apparatus of the Bush family as the main backers behind the ouster.
Paxton noted in the interview that two taxpayer-funded investigators hired by the House General Investigating Committee had been previously employed by the Biden Department of Justice.
“They hired, I think, four lawyers and two of them came from the Biden DOJ. That’s not an accident. They were sent there,” he suggested. “We are a huge problem for the Biden administration and that was the way to get me out of the way.”
Carlson and Paxton talked at length about the potential role and motivation of Rove, a political consultant described as “the principal architect of United States President George W. Bush’s two presidential election campaigns.” Rove first became politically involved with the Bush family while working on George W.’s unsuccessful congressional bid in 1978.
He was so integral to the rise of George W. that he has sometimes been called “Bush’s brain.”
Carlson pointed to an article written by Rove that The Wall Street Journal ran during the impeachment process that declared, “The end is near” for Paxton and that “he seems sure to lose his impeachment trial.”
Paxton dismissed Rove’s possible influence in the state, saying, “I don’t think he has that much sway in Texas. I mean, his candidates usually lose.
“He’s backed my opponents in every AG race that I’ve been in … he’s very tied in with the Bushes,” the AG continued, claiming that the WSJ had refused to run a counterpoint opinion article written by one of his allies.
When Carlson asked if “most Texas voters are on board with the Rove program,” Paxton replied, “No, I think he tries to be a force,” pointing out that he beat George P. Bush in the AG runoff 68% to 32%.
“But they thought if they buried me in negativity … they felt like they had all the advantage, so he just starts pounding me with bad stories,” he continued. “It was a strategy. … There’s nothing he won’t do, I believe. He doesn’t mind destroying a person’s life.
“My view is that his PACs have gone after conservatives for a long time,” Paxton added.
Carlson and Paxton also slammed the record of Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX), with the AG even suggesting that he might run against the senior senator because he has failed to effectively advocate for Texas’ border security.
“He seems like a puppet of the Bush family,” Carlson commented, to which Paxton responded, “He is, absolutely,” noting that Cornyn had been appointed to the Texas Supreme Court by George W. Bush while the latter was governor.
During the impeachment trial, Paxton’s defense team advanced the theory that the Bush political machine in Texas had worked to remove him from office both during the primary and then through the impeachment process itself, as reported by The Dallas Express.
The day after disgruntled employees went to the FBI to accuse Paxton of misusing his office, George P. Bush renewed his long-defunct law license. Additionally, Bush-affiliated lawyer Johnny Sutton has represented the whistleblowers for three years without pay, and Bush allocated nearly $180,000 in taxpayer money to Sutton’s firm as Texas Land Commissioner.
During closing arguments, Tony Buzbee, one of the lead defense attorneys, emphasized the apparent connection between the Bushes and the impeachment trial, calling it “a battle for power.”
“[Paxton] beat the latest in line for the Bushes,” but they “couldn’t beat him in a fair fight,” Buzbee suggested.
“Let it be known, let it be clear now, the Bush era in Texas ends today!” Buzbee declared in his closing argument. “We thought it had ended in the primary when Ken Paxton beat George P. Bush 68 to 32.”
“They can go back to Maine,” he concluded. “This is Texas.”