This text was first printed by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune. ProPublica is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative newsroom. Join The Large Story publication to obtain tales like this one in your inbox.

When President Donald Trump appeared in a New York courtroom final spring to face a slew of legal expenses, he was joined by a rotating cadre of attorneys, marketing campaign aides, his household — and Texas Lawyer Basic Ken Paxton.

Paxton had traveled to be with Trump for what he described on social media as a “sham of a trial” and a “travesty of justice.” Trump was going through 34 counts of falsifying information within the case, which centered on hush cash paid to porn star Stormy Daniels through the 2016 presidential marketing campaign to maintain her from disclosing their sexual relationship.

“It’s simply unhappy that we’re at this place in our nation the place the left makes use of the courtroom system to not promote justice, to not implement the rule of regulation, however to attempt to take out political opponents, and that’s precisely what they’re doing to him,” Paxton mentioned on a conservative podcast on the time.

“They’ve carried out it to me.”

A 12 months earlier, the Republican-led Texas Home of Representatives voted to question Paxton over allegations, made by senior officers in his workplace, that he had misused his place to assist a political donor. Trump was not bodily by Paxton’s aspect however weighed in repeatedly on social media, calling the method unfair and warning lawmakers that they must take care of him in the event that they persevered.

When the Texas Senate in September 2023 acquitted Paxton of the impeachment expenses towards him, Trump claimed credit score. “Sure, it’s true that my intervention by TRUTH SOCIAL saved Texas Lawyer Basic Ken Paxton from happening by the hands of Democrats and a few Republicans …” Trump posted on the social media platform he based.

The acquittal, nevertheless, didn’t wholly absolve Paxton of the allegations introduced by his former workers. The FBI has been investigating the identical accusations since no less than November 2020. And are available Monday, when Trump is inaugurated for his second time period, that investigation will likely be within the arms of his Division of Justice.

Paxton and Trump have solid a friendship through the years, one which has been cemented of their shared political and authorized struggles and their willingness to come back to one another’s help at instances of upheaval. Each have been the topics of federal investigations, have been impeached by lawmakers and have confronted lawsuits associated to questions on their conduct.

“If there’s one factor each guys share in frequent, folks have been after them for some time in an enormous approach. They’ve been underneath the gun. They’ve shared duress in a political setting,” mentioned Invoice Miller, a longtime Austin lobbyist and Paxton pal. “They’ve each been by the wringer, if you’ll. And I feel there’s a kinship there.”

Neither Trump nor Paxton responded to requests for remark or to written questions. Each males have repeatedly denied any wrongdoing, claiming that they’ve been the targets of witch hunts by their political enemies, together with fellow Republicans.

Their relationship is so cozy that Trump mentioned he’d think about naming Paxton as his U.S. lawyer basic decide. He in the end selected one other political ally, former Florida Lawyer Basic Pam Bondi.

Though Trump didn’t choose Paxton, the 2 males will get yet one more alternative to have one another’s backs now that he has returned to workplace, each in the case of the federal investigation into Paxton and pushing ahead the president’s agenda.

Earlier than and through Trump’s first time period, Paxton filed a number of lawsuits difficult insurance policies handed underneath former President Barack Obama. He then aggressively pursued instances towards President Joe Biden’s administration after Trump misplaced reelection. Such lawsuits included efforts to cease vaccine mandates, to expedite the deportation of migrants and to dam federal protections for transgender employees.

Trump has supported Paxton again and again, not solely because the Texas politician sought reelection but additionally as he confronted numerous political and authorized scandals. The president-elect’s guarantees to exert extra management over the Justice Division, which has historically operated with larger independence from the White Home, may mark an finish to the long-running investigation into Paxton, a number of attorneys mentioned.

Justice Division and FBI officers declined to touch upon the story and the standing of the investigation, however as lately as August, a former lawyer basic staffer testified earlier than a grand jury in regards to the case, Bloomberg Legislation reported. Paxton additionally referenced the FBI’s four-year investigation of him throughout a speech in late December with out mentioning any decision on the case. The truth that Paxton hasn’t been indicted may sign that investigators don’t have a smoking gun, one political science professor informed ProPublica and The Texas Tribune, however a former federal prosecutor mentioned instances can take years and nonetheless end in expenses being filed.

“So far as I’m conscious, that is fairly unprecedented, this degree of alliance and affiliation between these two figures,” mentioned Matthew Wilson, a political science professor at Southern Methodist College in Dallas.

“Don’t Depend Me Out”

In 2020, when then-U.S. Lawyer Basic William Barr discovered no proof to help Trump’s claims that voter fraud turned the election ends in his opponent’s favor, Paxton emerged to take up the argument.

He grew to become the primary state lawyer basic to problem Biden’s win in courtroom, claiming in a December 2020 lawsuit that the elevated use of mail ballots in 4 battleground states had resulted in voter fraud and price Trump the election.

Trump eagerly supported the transfer on social media, writing, “We will likely be INTERVENING within the Texas (plus many different states) case. That is the large one. Our Nation wants a victory!”

The U.S. Supreme Courtroom declined to take the case, ruling that Texas had no authorized curiosity in how different states conduct their elections. Trump, nevertheless, didn’t neglect Paxton’s loyalty.

He supplied Paxton his full-throated endorsement through the 2022 major race for lawyer basic towards then-Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush. His resolution to again Paxton, who was underneath federal legal investigation on the time and had been indicted on state securities fraud expenses, was a significant blow to Bush, the grandson and nephew of two former Republican presidents. Bush had endorsed Trump for president regardless that Trump defeated his father, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, within the Republican major and repeatedly disparaged his household.

Trump properties in Florida and New Jersey served as places for no less than two Paxton marketing campaign fundraisers over the course of that marketing campaign. And at a rally in Robstown in South Texas, Trump repeated debunked claims that the election was stolen and mentioned he wished Paxton had been with him on the White Home on the time. “He would’ve found out that voter fraud in two minutes,” Trump mentioned.

Whereas Paxton pursued reelection, FBI brokers executed a search warrant at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort as a part of an investigation into how his administration dealt with 1000’s of presidency paperwork, lots of them categorized. Paxton led 10 different Republican state attorneys basic in intervening in courtroom on Trump’s behalf, arguing in a authorized submitting that the Biden administration couldn’t be trusted to behave correctly within the case.

Paxton received one other time period in workplace in November 2022, however the celebration was short-lived. Six months later, the Texas Home of Representatives thought of impeaching him over misconduct allegations together with bribery, abuse of workplace and obstruction associated to his dealings with Nate Paul, an actual property developer and political donor. Paxton has denied any wrongdoing.

Hours earlier than the Home voted on whether or not to question Paxton, Trump weighed in on social media.

“I like Texas, received it twice in landslides, and watched as many different mates, together with Ken Paxton, got here together with me,” he wrote on his social media platform Reality Social. “Hopefully Republicans within the Texas Home will agree that it is a very unfair course of that shouldn’t be allowed to occur or proceed — I’ll battle you if it does. It’s the Radical Left Democrats, RINOS, and Criminals that by no means cease. ELECTION INTERFERENCE! Free Ken Paxton, allow them to look forward to the following election!”

Regardless of Trump’s risk, the Home voted 121-23 in Could 2023 to question Paxton. The Senate then held a trial that September to find out Paxton’s destiny. “Who would exchange Paxton, one of many TOUGHEST & BEST Lawyer Generals within the Nation?” Trump posted earlier than the Senate acquitted Paxton.

Trump is among the many few individuals who perceive what it’s wish to be underneath the form of scrutiny Paxton has confronted and the right way to survive it, Miller mentioned.

“There’s that high quality [they share] of, ‘Don’t depend me out,’” he mentioned. “‘When you’re counting me out, you’re making a mistake.’”

On Monday, Trump will change into the primary president additionally to be a convicted felon. A jury discovered Trump responsible on all counts of falsifying information within the hush cash case. A decide, nevertheless, dominated that he is not going to serve jail time in mild of his election to the nation’s highest workplace.

Trump has repeatedly decried the case, in addition to the Justice Division’s investigations that resulted in him being charged in June 2023 with withholding categorized paperwork and later with conspiring to overturn the 2020 election by knowingly pushing lies that the race was stolen. Jack Smith, the particular counsel who led the DOJ investigations, dropped each instances after Trump’s reelection. A Justice Division coverage forbids prosecutions towards sitting presidents, however in a DOJ report in regards to the 2020 election launched days earlier than the inauguration, Smith asserted that his investigators had sufficient proof to convict Trump had the case gone to trial.

Not solely have Paxton and Trump supported one another by turmoil that might have affected their political ambitions, they’ve taken comparable tacks towards those that have crossed them.

After surviving his impeachment trial in 2023, Paxton promised revenge towards Republicans who didn’t stand by him. He had assist from Trump, who final 12 months endorsed a challenger to Republican Texas Home Speaker Dade Phelan, calling Paxton’s impeachment “fraudulent” and an “absolute embarrassment.” Phelan, who has defended the Home’s resolution to question Paxton, received reelection however resigned from his speaker submit.

For his half, Trump has tried a authorized technique that Paxton has employed many instances, utilizing shopper safety legal guidelines to go after perceived political adversaries. In October, Trump sued CBS Information over a “60 Minutes” interview with Vice President Kamala Harris, saying the information group’s edits “misled” the general public. As an alternative of accusing CBS of defamation, which is more durable to show, his lawsuit argues that the media firm violated Texas’ shopper safety act, which is meant to guard folks from fraud. The case is ongoing. In shifting to dismiss the case, CBS’ attorneys have mentioned the Texas regulation was designed to safeguard folks from misleading enterprise practices, “to not police editorial choices made by information organizations with which one disagrees.” (Marc Fuller, one of many CBS attorneys, is representing ProPublica and the Tribune in an unrelated enterprise disparagement case.)

The transfer signifies a broader, extra aggressive method that the Justice Division could pursue underneath the Trump administration, mentioned Paul Nolette, director of the Les Aspin Middle for Authorities at Marquette College, who researches attorneys basic.

“It’s a sign to me that, sure, the federal DOJ goes to comply with the trail of Paxton, and maybe another like-minded Republican AGs who’ve been utilizing their workplace to additionally go after perceived enemies,” Nolette mentioned.

Cleansing Home

On Dec. 21, six weeks after Trump received reelection, Paxton stepped onstage in a Phoenix conference middle on the AmericaFest convention, hosted by the conservative group Turning Level USA.

The occasion adopted Trump’s comeback win. It additionally represented a triumphant second for Paxton: He’d not solely survived impeachment, however prosecutors agreed earlier within the 12 months to drop long-standing state securities fraud expenses towards him if he paid about $270,000 in restitution and carried out neighborhood service.

However Paxton spent a lot of his 15-minute speech ticking off the grievances about what he claimed had been assaults on him all through his profession, together with impeachment by “supposed Republicans” and the FBI case.

He praised Trump’s collection of Bondi to run the DOJ. It was time to scrub home in a federal company that had change into centered on “political witch hunts and taking out those who they disagree with,” Paxton mentioned.

Earlier than taking workplace, Trump threatened to fireside and punish these throughout the Justice Division who had been concerned in investigations that focused him. FBI director Christopher Wray, a Republican whom Trump appointed throughout his first time period in workplace, introduced in December that he would resign after the president-elect signaled that he deliberate to fireside him. After going through comparable threats, Smith, the particular prosecutor who led the DOJ investigations, stepped down this month.

In his speech, Paxton made no point out of the company’s investigations into Trump, nor did he join the DOJ to his personal case. However a Justice Division that Trump oversees with a heavy-handed method may gain advantage the embattled lawyer basic, a number of attorneys informed ProPublica and the Tribune.

Trump may select to pardon Paxton earlier than the case is formally concluded. He used pardons throughout his first presidency, together with issuing one to his longtime strategist Steve Bannon and to Charles Kushner, his son-in-law’s father. He’s been vocal about his plans to pardon most of the Jan. 6 rioters on his first day in workplace.

Extra regarding, nevertheless, is that if Trump takes the bizarre method of personally intervening within the federal investigation, one thing presidents have traditionally prevented as a result of it’s not a political department of presidency, mentioned Mike Golden, who directs the Advocacy Program on the College of Texas Faculty of Legislation.

Any Trump involvement could be extra problematic as a result of it might occur behind closed doorways, whereas a pardon is public, Golden mentioned.

“If the president pressures the Division of Justice to drop an investigation, a meritorious investigation towards a political ally, that weakens the general power of the system of justice in the way in which a one-off pardon actually doesn’t,” Golden mentioned.

Michael McCrum, a former federal prosecutor in Texas who didn’t work on the Paxton case, mentioned “we’d be fools to suppose that Mr. Paxton’s relationship with the Trump people and Mr. Trump personally wouldn’t play some consider it.”

“I feel that the case goes to die on the vine,” McCrum mentioned.

Miller, Paxton’s pal, agreed.

“I’d count on his troubles are behind him.”