House lawyers presented their second witness in the impeachment proceedings on Wednesday. Meet Ryan Bangert, the former deputy first assistant attorney general, and one of the senior staffers who reported Ken Paxton to the FBI for potential illegal behavior.
Rusty Hardin, the house lawyer, highlighted Bangert’s conservative credentials, including his membership in organizations like the Federalist Society and the Philadelphia Society.
Despite being a donor to Paxton’s campaign, Bangert expressed his change of heart. He grew concerned about Paxton’s excessive focus on Nate Paul, a political donor and personal friend.
Bangert described in detail how Paxton asked him multiple times in 2020 to review matters related to Paul’s legal troubles. Two of those instances involved reconsidering decisions to withhold law enforcement documents from Paul, which went against established precedent.
“That immediately raises red flags,” said Bangert, referring to Paxton’s request to disclose law enforcement materials during an ongoing investigation.
Furthermore, Bangert testified that Paxton wanted him to intervene in a lawsuit between Paul and the Mitte Foundation, a charity that had invested in Paul’s businesses. Bangert believed that such intervention would directly benefit Paul and his company, World Class Holdings. Although he initially tried to mediate between the two parties, Paxton eventually ordered him to file a motion to halt the legal proceedings. Uncomfortable with the directive, Bangert requested to be removed from the situation.
A few months later, Paxton approached Bangert again with an order to evaluate whether foreclosure sales could continue under the governor’s COVID orders. Despite Bangert’s initial advice to allow the sales to proceed, Paxton rejected it.
To formally request an opinion from the attorney general’s office, the office needed someone authorized to do so. Senator Bryan Hughes eventually fulfilled that role, but according to Bangert, there was no evidence that Hughes knew the request was meant to benefit a specific individual.
Bangert and another whistleblower, Ryan Vassar, worked on issuing an opinion to allow foreclosure sales to continue, consistent with the office’s previous positions during the pandemic. However, when Bangert emailed the draft to Paxton, he rejected it, demanding revisions to prevent the sales from happening.
Describing Paxton’s behavior as “bizarre,” Bangert said, “He was acting like a man with a gun to his head. Anxious, desperate, urging me to get this out as quickly as humanly possible.”
Ultimately, Bangert realized that issuing the opinion to stop foreclosure sales would benefit Paul, who owned numerous properties facing foreclosure. Despite his concerns, Bangert signed the order, ensuring that his name, rather than his younger colleague Vassar’s, appeared on it.
Considering the potential fallout, Bangert explained, “If something broke bad with this, I didn’t want it to tarnish his career.”
Bangert is scheduled to provide further testimony when the trial resumes at 9 am on Thursday.
– Kate McGee
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