Ken and Angela Paxton.Photo: Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty
When Texas Attorney GeneralKen Paxtonallegedly fled his home to avoid being served a subpoena on Monday, he had an accomplice — his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton — according to an affidavit filed in federal court this week.
NBC News reports that a process server said he parked outside the Paxtons' home and knocked on the door in an effort to serve the Texas attorney general.
“I could see a silhouette of a man walking in the living room area,” process server Ernesto Martin Herrera said in the sworn affidavit. “I knocked on the front door. The door had clear glass in it and I could clearly see inside the house. A female got up from the couch and started walking to the door. I saw Mr. Paxton enter the room behind her. When he saw me, he turned around and went back to where he came from. I recognized him as Ken Paxton from the many pictures available on the internet.”
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After the woman — who identified herself as Angela, Paxton’s wife — opened the door, Herrera said he “explained to her that I was trying to deliver important legal documents to Mr. Paxton.”
He continued: “She went back towards the area where Mr. Paxton had gone and she came back telling me that he was on the phone. I offered to wait for him to be off the phone. She said that he was in a hurry to leave. I left my business card with her.”
Herrera said he then sat in his car to wait and, a little over an hour later, saw Paxton exit the driveway.
Minutes later, he said, “Angela came out and opened the driver side and rear side door behind the driver of the truck. She then got inside the truck and started it, leaving the rear door behind the driver side open. A few minutes later I saw Mr. Paxton RAN from the door inside the garage towards the rear door behind the driver side.”
Angela has not yet publicly responded to the controversy, though her husband, in a tweet sent Monday, didn’t dispute the report, instead accusing the media of “[drumming] up another controversy involving my work as Attorney General” and “attacking me for having the audacity to avoid a stranger lingering outside my home and showing concern about the safety and well-being of my family.”
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As he himself noted, Paxton is no stranger to controversy, having beenindicted on felony securities fraud chargesmonths after taking office as attorney general in 2015. He has pleaded not guilty and the trial has yet to take place.
In 2020, the Associated Press reported that the FBI was investigating claims that hehad abused his officeto help a wealthy donor. There, too, Paxton has denied wrongdoing.
Paxton has also courted controversy for takinga leading rolein the failed Supreme Court case aimed at overturning the results of the 2020 election, whichJoe Bidenwon overDonald Trump.
source: people.com
