AUSTIN, Texas — U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, a former top aide to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, called on his former boss to resign from his post after top members of Paxton's staff said the attorney general should be investigated for multiple crimes, including bribery.
"For the good of the people of Texas and the extraordinary public servants who serve at the Office of the Attorney General, Attorney General Ken Paxton must resign," he said in a statement. "The allegations of bribery, abuse of office, and other charges levied against him by at least 7 senior leaders of the Office of the Attorney General are more than troubling on the merits."
"But, any grace for him to resolve differences and demonstrate if the allegations are false was eliminated by his choice instead to attack the very people entrusted, by him, to lead the office – some of whom I know well and whose character are beyond reproach."
Roy called the office of the attorney general "too critical to the state and her people to leave in chaos," The Texas Tribune reports.
"The Attorney General deserves his days in court, but the people of Texas deserve a fully functioning AG’s office," he added.
RELATED: 7 high-ranking whistleblowers allege criminal violations against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton
Roy served as Paxton's initial first assistant attorney general during Paxton's first term, but left in a major shake-up of senior staff in 2015. He was elected to Congress as a Republican in 2018.
In a statement on Saturday evening, Paxton's office said, "The complaint filed against General Paxton was done to impede on an ongoing investigation into criminal wrongdoing by public officials including employees of this office. Making false claims is a very serious matter and we plan to investigate this to the fullest extent of the law."
The statement did not elaborate.
However on Monday afternoon, Paxton released another satement:
“The Texas attorney general’s office was referred a case from Travis county regarding allegations of crimes relating to the FBI, other government agencies and individuals. My obligation as attorney general is to conduct an investigation upon such referral. Because employees from my office impeded the investigation and because I knew Nate Paul I ultimately decided to hire an outside independent prosecutor to make his own independent determination. Despite the effort by rogue employees and their false allegations I will continue to seek justice in Texas and will not be resigning.”
On Sunday, Gov. Greg Abbott said the allegations involving Paxton "raise serious concerns," but he will "withhold further comment until the results of any investigation are complete."
The Statesman reported that Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick learned about the allegations against Paxton through media reports. "These issues are obviously concerning. I will wait until the investigation is complete before making any additional comments," Patrick said.\
Paxton, a Republican, is already facing criminal charges alleging securities fraud in Collin County.
This story is from our news partners at The Texas Tribune. Read more here.
