Unexplained Caribbean and European trips that cost taxpayers more than $90,000. A $600 sports coat paid for by an event organizer. A $45 office Christmas cake taken as his own.

These are among the perks that Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton ‘s former employees say he reveled in while using his office in ways that now have him facing a federal criminal investigation and potential ouster over allegations of corruption.

Paxton’s impeachment trial that starts Tuesday covers years of highly publicized scandal, criminal charges and whistleblower accounts from his inner circle.

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    These are among the perks that Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton ‘s former employees say he reveled in while using his office in ways that now have him facing a federal criminal investigation and potential ouster over allegations of corruption.

    Paxton’s impeachment trial that starts Tuesday covers years of highly publicized scandal, criminal charges and whistleblower accounts from his inner circle.

    But records obtained by The Associated Press, interviews with former aides and a review of thousands of legal filings reveal other ways in which Paxton allegedly reaped the benefits of being one of Texas’ most powerful figures.

    “He always cared about what trip he was going on, who was taking him to dinner,” James Blake Brickman, one of Paxton’s former deputies, told investigators leading the impeachment in March, according to a transcript.

    Bill Miller, a veteran Austin lobbyist, said the accusations that have engulfed Paxton for years “color the perception of him” but don’t resemble the man he’s long called a friend.

    David Maxell, the attorney general’s former head of law enforcement and one of eight deputies who reported him to the FBI, told investigators that Paxton once bought a $600 sports coat from a hotel store while at a conference and billed it to the event’s organizer.


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