The investigation by the Travis County District Attorney’s Office into alleged misconduct by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been closed with no charges being filed. Allegations were made against Paxton while he was a State Senator and was running for the Attorney General position he won in the November election. Paxton paid a civil fine of $1,000 after he acknowledged he had failed to properly file registration papers with the State Securities Board.
In a written statement, Travis County District Attorney Rosemary Lehmberg (D) said that after a review of the allegations they determined “that there is insufficient evidence to support a prosecution for any offense where venue would be appropriate in Travis County,” according to an article in the Dallas Morning News by Christy Hoppe.
“The Travis County District Attorney and the State Securities Board independently reviewed these matters and both came to the same conclusion,” said Paxton spokesman Anthony Holm in a statement obtained by Breitbart Texas. “As we have maintained from the beginning this was solely an issue of paperwork compliance and was fully resolved last spring.”
Lehmberg said the work leading to the allegations took place in Dallas and Collin counties and that her office forwarded their information to those agencies so they could proceed if they felt it would be appropriate.
Newly sworn-in Dallas County District Attorney Susan Hawk (R) said that her office would not be pursuing charges. “The Dallas County District Attorney’s Office was copied on a letter from the Travis County District Attorney’s Office regarding a referral of possible criminal conduct by Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott in Collin and/or Dallas Counties,” Hawk wrote in a statement obtained by Breitbart Texas. “Following a discussion with Gregg Cox, Director of Special Prosecutions for the Travis County District Attorney’s Office, at this time, we are not aware of having venue over any alleged crimes committed in Dallas County by Attorney General Ken Paxton.”
The Collin County District Attorney’s Office’s first assistant, Bill Dobiyanski declined to say what actions their office would take in this matter, according to the Dallas Morning News article.
Bob Price is a senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas and a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.
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