Stand By Your Man/Fear Of The Fifth

On Truth Social, Trump posted a call for the Texas Supreme Court to rule in favor of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, one of his greatest allies. Trump argued that "enough time and money has been wasted" already and implied that the Texas Supreme Court should rule in his favor.

First problem: this case is not before the Texas Supreme Court.

Attorney General Ken Paxton’s efforts to end a whistleblower lawsuit against him has been dealt another blow after a Travis County judge denied his attempt to end the case without being deposed. 

The ruling, which Paxton’s office publicized in an angry statement late Wednesday, means Paxton remains ordered to sit for a deposition on Feb. 1 in the wrongful termination suit filed in 2020 under the Texas Whistleblower Act. The lawsuit from four of Paxton’s former top aides allege that they were fired as punishment for reporting Paxton to the FBI on suspicion of bribery. The aides said they believed Paxton was misusing his office to help campaign donor and friend Nate Paul.  

In a press release Friday, Paxton's office said it is asking an appeals court to review the judge's denial of his attempt to end the case. 

Paxton has previously sought to block his deposition and end the suit, but earlier this month, the 3rd Texas Court of Appeals and the Texas Supreme Court affirmed a lower court’s decision to force him to testify under oath. The deposition was set for Feb. 1.

I can’t say for sure based on this report, but it seems to me the response to this new appeal will be “asked and answered.” Unless the latest order raises new issues of law that couldn’t have been contemplated in the prior rulings, this appeal is a dead letter. In any case, it’s an appeal to the 3rd Circuit, not to the SCOT.

What the hell does Trump think he’s doing? Employing droit de seigneur? Of course, Trump is a numbnutz who has no idea how the judiciary works. As for Paxton, this is the lawsuit that led to his impeachment. The Lege never did authorize the settlement, so I guess (I don’t know what state the suit is in) Paxton is just trying to slink away. Slink away without saying more about this (is the FBI listening?). In fact, that’s a logical inference: Paxton isn’t worried about the political impact of this case; he’s spending money against incumbent Republicans (like my state Rep.) who voted to impeach him. He has no shame, or concern, there.

He must be worried about what he’ll say that the FBI wants to know, since he didn’t testify in the impeachment trial, and the FBI can’t put him before a grand jury. Be interesting to see him sit for the deposition and plead the 5th. More interesting than he wants things to get, most likely.