The legal skirmish between Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and four whistleblowing former employees is far from over, despite Paxton's assertion that his office aims to cease the lawsuit, reports state.
The Texas Office of the Attorney General (OAG) called it quits on Thursday, with Paxton claiming that the litigation would no longer bode, due to the plaintiffs' "long-running political stunt", that was deemed an "unjustifiable waste of taxpayer resources." This move came on the heels of a Texas Court of Appeals mandate requiring Paxton to be deposed, as per KVUE.
Tom Nesbitt, the attorney for the whistleblowers, said in a statement to KVUE that Paxton's move to drop the lawsuit was another "desperate stunt" to avoid transparency regarding his "illegal and corrupt conduct."
On the flip side, Paxton counters that the OAG had agreed to settle the case last year but "the plaintiffs backed out of that settlement after I was fully acquitted." Paxton vowed not to allow his focus to waver from "defending the rights of the people of Texas," in the face of litigation he characterizes as a distraction from important matters such as immigration lawsuits against the Biden Administration, according to a statement obtained by FOX 7 Austin.
However, while Paxton touts an end to what he describes as a waste of litigation, Nesbitt insists that the fight for truth via the lawsuit will persist. The whistleblowers had previously accused Paxton of abusing his power in aid of himself and a political donor, Nate Paul, and their unjust firing for reporting Paxton to the FBI is still a contested issue, per reports from FOX 7 Austin. The disagreement over the settlement and the continuation of the lawsuit signifies that the legal battle may indeed trudge on, despite the OAG’s effort to draw a close.
