Docs reveal identity of Texas AG Paxton’s alleged mistress
The revelation comes as Paxton’s attorneys fight to dismiss nearly all the articles of impeachment against him.
The revelation comes as Paxton’s attorneys fight to dismiss nearly all the articles of impeachment against him.
The identity of the woman with whom Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton allegedly had an extramarital affair has been revealed during pre-trial impeachment proceedings.
Paxton faces an impeachment trial before the Texas Senate beginning in September on charges of corruption. On Monday, the attorney general’s lawyers requested dismissal of 19 of 20 articles of impeachment against him, arguing that those 19 articles relate to allegations that occurred before his most recent reelection.
Buried within the stacks of documents connected to the impeachment articles, the Dallas Morning News found that a woman named Laura Olson is identified as the alleged mistress connected to the corruption allegations against Paxton. Per the Morning News, a woman with the same name worked for Republican State Sen. Donna Campell for years.
One of the articles of impeachment against Paxton alleges that campaign donor and real estate developer Nate Paul bribed Paxton by giving a job to an unnamed woman with whom the AG was having an affair. The woman was not identified by name in the original articles of impeachment. The motion filed by Paxton’s attorneys on Monday, however, identifies Laura Olson by name for the first time.
The connection raises questions about whether Sen. Campbell is ethically obligated to recuse herself from the upcoming trial or not. “Each senator has to decide for himself or herself, ‘Do I have a conflict or is there any issue with me participating?'” Michael Gerhardt, an impeachment expert and a law professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, told the Morning News. “This is a price we pay for a system that relies on legislators to be the ultimate decision makers,” Gerhardt continued.
