AUSTIN (KXAN) — A stay issued Tuesday afternoon by the Texas Supreme Court will temporarily put off a court-ordered deposition from Attorney General Ken Paxton in the lawsuit brought by his former top aides.
The Office of the Attorney General asked the court Monday to grant an emergency motion for temporary relief so that Paxton would not have to testify under oath Thursday morning. Paxton’s lawyers argued this was necessary so that the justices could consider another motion in which they claimed a Travis County judge abused her authority in ordering Paxton to sit for the deposition.
The Texas Supreme Court is now asking both the OAG and the lawyers representing the whistleblowers who reported Paxton to the FBI to file responses to this stay by Feb. 29.
KXAN reached out Tuesday afternoon for comment from the whistleblowers’ attorneys, and this story will be updated once any responses are shared.
The stay also pauses the planned depositions from three of Paxton’s top deputies: Brent Webster, Lesley French Henneke and Michelle Smith.
A Travis County judge previously set the schedule for depositions to happen after she said the OAG lawyers failed to negotiate times with the whistleblowers’ attorneys.
In their recent filings, Paxton’s lawyers argued the depositions are not needed since his office is now electing to no longer contest the facts of the whistleblowers’ claims or dispute their lawsuit anymore. While they contend Paxton did nothing wrong, critics said they’re viewing this reversal in strategy as an admission of guilt to everything laid out last year during his impeachment trial.
Blake Brickman, a former assistant attorney general who’s now suing Paxton, previously told KXAN that he and the three other plaintiffs in the lawsuit will keep pushing to have their former boss answer questions under oath.
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