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   State Bar Investigating Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton: AP Exclusive   
   Bar ordered to look into the accusations against the Republican official;   
   the investigation is confidential and likely to take months   
   By Jake Bleiberg • Published June 9, 2021	• Updated on June 10, 2021 at   
   6:27 am	   
   NBC 5 News   
      
   Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.   
      
   The Texas bar association is investigating whether state Attorney General   
   Ken Paxton’s failed efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election   
   based on bogus claims of fraud amounted to professional misconduct.   
      
   The State Bar of Texas initially declined to take up a Democratic Party   
   activist’s complaint that Paxton’s petitioning of the U.S. Supreme Court   
   to block Joe Biden’s victory was frivolous and unethical. But a tribunal   
   that oversees grievances against lawyers overturned that decision late   
   last month and ordered the bar to look into the accusations against the   
   Republican official.   
      
   The investigation is yet another liability for the embattled attorney   
   general, who is facing a years-old criminal case, a separate, newer FBI   
   investigation, and a Republican primary opponent who is seeking to make   
   electoral hay of the various controversies. It also makes Paxton one of   
   the highest profile lawyers to face professional blowback over their roles   
   in Donald Trump’s effort to delegitimize his defeat.   
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   A spokesman for the attorney general’s office did not respond to requests   
   for comment. Paxton’s defense lawyer, Philip Hilder, declined to comment.   
      
   Kevin Moran, the 71-year-old president of the Galveston Island Democrats,   
   shared his complaint with The Associated Press along with letters from the   
   State Bar of Texas and the Board of Disciplinary Appeals that confirm the   
   investigation. He said Paxton’s efforts to dismiss other states’ election   
   results was a wasteful embarrassment for which the attorney general should   
   lose his law license.   
      
   “He wanted to disenfranchise the voters in four other states,” said Moran.   
   “It’s just crazy.”   
      
   Texas’ top appeals lawyer, who would usually argue the state’s cases   
   before the U.S. Supreme Court, notably did not join Paxton in bringing the   
   election suit. The high court threw it out.   
      
   Paxton has less than a month to reply to Moran’s claim that the lawsuit to   
   overturn the results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin was   
   misleading and brought in bad faith, according to a June 3 letter from the   
   bar. All four of the battleground states voted for Biden in November.   
      
   From there, bar staff will take up the case in a proceeding that resembles   
   the grand jury stage of a criminal investigation. Bar investigators are   
   empowered to question witnesses, hold hearings and issue subpoenas to   
   determine whether a lawyer likely committed misconduct. That finding then   
   launches a disciplinary process that could ultimately result in   
   disbarment, suspension or a lesser punishments. A lawyer also could be   
   found to have done nothing wrong.   
      
   The bar dismisses thousands of grievances each year and the Board of   
   Disciplinary Appeals, 12 independent lawyers appointed by the Texas   
   Supreme Court, overwhelmingly uphold those decisions. Reversals like that   
   of Moran’s complaint happened less than 7% of the time last year,   
   according to the bar’s annual report.   
      
   Claire Reynolds, a spokeswoman and lawyer for the bar, said state law   
   prohibits the agency from commenting on complaints unless they result is   
   public sanctions or a court action.   
      
   The bar’s investigation is confidential and likely to take months. But it   
   draws renewed attention to Paxton’s divisive defense of Trump as he and   
   Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush vie for the former president’s   
   endorsement in the Republican primary to run for attorney general in 2022.   
      
   On the Democratic side, Joe Jaworski, the former mayor of Galveston, has   
   said he’ll run. Moran said Jaworski is a friend but that he played no role   
   in the complaint against Paxton.   
      
   Paxton’s election challenge was filled with claims that failed to   
   withstand basic scrutiny. A succession of other judges and state elections   
   officials have refuted claims of widespread voter fraud, and Trump’s own   
   Justice Department found no evidence of fraud that could have changed the   
   election’s outcome.   
      
   Nonetheless, Paxton’s lawsuit won him political and financial support from   
   Trump loyalists at a time when fresh allegations of criminal wrongdoing   
   led many in the state GOP to keep their distance from the attorney   
   general.   
      
   Last fall, eight of Paxton’s top deputies mounted an extraordinary revolt   
   in which they accused him of abusing his office in the service of a   
   wealthy donor. The FBI is investigating their claims.   
      
   Paxton has denied wrongdoing and separately pleaded not guilty in a state   
   securities fraud case that’s languished since 2015. He has also used his   
   office in ways that have benefited allies and other donors.   
      
   The new criminal allegations prompted an exodus of the top lawyers from   
   Paxton’s office. But Solicitor General Kyle Hawkins was still serving as   
   Texas’ top appellate lawyer at the time of the election lawsuit.   
      
   Although the solicitor general usually handles cases before the U.S.   
   Supreme Court, it was a private Washington, D.C.-based lawyer who brought   
   the election challenge with Paxton. Hawkins has since moved to private   
   practice. A spokesman for his firm said “we can’t help you” with questions   
   about why he didn’t handle the suit.   
      
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