Act Daily News
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Justice Department prosecutors in Washington, DC, have taken over the corruption investigation into Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
State prosecutor Kent Schaffer, who’s individually investigating Paxton, advised Act Daily News in an interview that the Justice Department notified him of the change. The yearslong corruption investigation had, till now, been beneath the management of federal prosecutors in Texas.
The latest takeover by federal prosecutors at Justice Department headquarters in Washington is the newest improvement within the investigation of the Texas legal professional normal, which was initiated after a number of aides accused Paxton of bribery, abuse of workplace and different probably felony offenses in 2020. It additionally comes simply days after Paxton agreed to a tentative $3.3 million settlement with 4 of the aides who made the general public accusation.
Paxton has repeatedly denied allegations of wrongdoing. In a press release to Act Daily News after the settlement was introduced final week, Paxton mentioned he had “chosen this path” to “put this issue to rest.”
The investigation will now be dealt with by the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section, in keeping with Schaffer. The Public Integrity Section handles excessive profile prosecutions of presidency officers, together with in instances of bribery and corruption.
It is just not clear what prompted the transfer to exchange the federal prosecutors in Texas on the case.
A Justice Department spokesperson declined to remark.
Paxton’s legal professional Dan Cogdell advised The Associated Press, which first reported the event, that he had beforehand requested for prosecutors from the Western District of Texas to be off the case as a result of they’d “an obvious conflict,” however that he had not personally been notified of the transfer. Cogdell didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark from Act Daily News.
Act Daily News has additionally reached out to Paxton’s workplace for remark.
In an interview with Act Daily News, Schaffer mentioned that “there is no reason in the world that [the Texas prosecutors] couldn’t have continued with the prosecution.” He mentioned he worries “Ken Paxton has committed a crime … and he won’t have to answer for it.”
He continued: “This cat’s got nine lives, and it looks like he’s used up about seven or eight of them.”
Source: www.cnn.com