AUSTIN — Two of the main whistleblowers who testified at the impeachment trial of Attorney General Ken Paxton potentially violated Texas law by sending privileged materials to outside personal counsel.
During the testimony and subsequent cross-examination of both Ryan Vassar and Mark Penley, two former staffers at the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) who complained to the FBI about potentially unlawful actions taken by Paxton, it was revealed that they themselves might have broken the law.
One of the key issues that prompted the staffers to go to the FBI was the actions of an attorney named Brandon Cammack, who had been hired by Paxton to serve as outside counsel to investigate allegations of FBI wrongdoing made by Nate Paul.
Paxton’s decision irked many high-ranking employees at the OAG who believed Paul’s accusations were unfounded. Their disagreement became “apoplectic” when they received word that Cammack had obtained grand jury subpoenas related to the investigation, according to Penley.
Similarly, the revelation led Jeff Mateer, then the first assistant attorney general, to call a meeting with senior leadership to discuss the matter and eventually go to the FBI to allege Paxton had violated the law, according to Mateer’s testimony last week.
As reported by The Dallas Express, Vassar said that he and the other whistleblowers had taken no evidence with them when they met with the FBI in October 2020. On re-direct, he attempted to walk back the statement by claiming he had only meant that they took no documents because to do so would be an improper use of OAG documents.
Paxton’s attorney, Mitch Little, pressed Vassar on the admission, saying, “So it’s okay to give your personal lawyer documents from inside the Office of the Attorney General but not the FBI, right? … You had internal OAG documents, to wit, a series of grand jury subpoenas that were served by Brandon Cammack that you sent to your personal lawyer, but you didn’t bring any documents to the FBI, right?”
“That’s absolutely true,” Vassar said.
An internal investigation by the OAG into the whistleblowers’ claims produced a report in which it was alleged that Vassar and Penley violated state law at the time by sending copies of the subpoenas to Johnny Sutton, an attorney for many of the whistleblowers.
“It was in fact Vassar and [Mark] Penley who violated Texas Code of Criminal Procedure article 20.02(h),” the report claimed. “Furthermore, Penely misled Don Clemmer to obtain copies of secret grand jury subpoenas for the unlawful purpose of providing those subpoenas to a third party, namely Johnny Sutton.”
The OAG report echoed the point made during the trial, suggesting that “Vassar’s illegal communication criminally violated Texas Code of Criminal Procedure article 20.02, which requires secrecy regarding grand jury proceedings; the subpoenas themselves likewise contained warnings that the subpoenas were to be kept secret.”
During cross-examination, Vassar tried to excuse the matter by saying he did not think it was a violation because he sent it to his personal attorney.
However, the subpoenas included clear warnings against such an action, explaining that only the direct recipient of the subpoena may disclose it to their attorney.
“A subpoena or summons related to a Grand Jury proceeding or investigation must be kept secret to prevent the unauthorized disclosure of a matter before the Grand Jury,” one of Cammack’s subpoenas read. “Any such disclosure could impede the investigation being conducted and thereby interfere with the enforcement of law.”