Former special prosecutor Brandon Cammack testified Tuesday that he stayed in constant contact with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton during what was supposed to be an independent investigation into the allegations real estate investor Nate Paul had made that he was unfairly treated by state and federal law enforcement.
Cammack, an attorney with only five years experience when Paxton hired him, said the attorney general told him the top deputies in his office were unwilling to investigate Paul’s allegations, In Tuesday’s impeachment proceedings against Paxton, Cammack also testified that he was never paid for his work and was told to “eat” the $14,000 invoice he finally submitted to Paxton. The person telling him this was Brent Webster, Paxton’s new second in command, during a meeting with Paxton and Webster in which Cammack was fired.
Paxton is accused of involving himself in his friend and donor Paul’s legal issues involving a federal investigation and a lawsuit between Paul and the Mitte Foundation, a charitable organization. He is also accused of accepting bribes from Paul.
During his time as the outside counsel, Cammack issued dozens of grand jury subpoenas and testified Tuesday he didn’t realize these subpoenas were going to people on the other side of legal disputes with Paul. He also testified that he was in constant contact with Paul’s attorney, Michael Wynne, who provided Cammack with contacts within the Travis County District Attorney’s office and sent documents of people’s names to add to the list of those who should be subpoenaed.
Others testifying Tuesday included former federal and state prosecutor Joe Brown, Chief Executive Officer of Amplify Credit Union Kendall Garrison, and former Deputy Attorney General for Civil Litigation Darren McCarty.
Cammack testified he was unaware that the FBI was looking into Paul, yet knew about Paul’s claims that he was targeted by federal and other state authorities who conducted a raid on the real estate investor’s properties and business. Paul alleged that someone had tampered with the initial search warrant for the raid.
An investigation by the Travis County District Attorney’s Office did not substantiate any of Paul’s allegations regarding mortgage fraud and wrongful foreclosures of his properties in a bankruptcy hearing. The DA’s Office referred the entire matter to the AG’s Office.
According to the credit union’s Garrison, Amplify was ready to foreclose on three of Paul’s properties due to millions in outstanding loans owed by Paul. However, the day before the properties would sell during an auction, what was referred to as the “midnight opinion” or the COVID-19-related opinion that prevented these foreclosure sales from happening was sent to Amplify via email.
Garrison said he thought this was odd, especially as the opinion was published and sent out on a Sunday night – but that it successfully stopped the auction on Paul’s properties.
Paxton and Cammack contacted one another primarily via Protonmail, and Paxton directed Cammack to download Signal, both forms of encrypted messaging communication. Cammack said he also got a phone to receive calls from Paxton, as the attorney general would often use two or more numbers to reach him.
Cammack testified that once he was hired and put on the investigation, Paul’s attorney, Michael Wynne, was closely involved with it and provided “unsolicited” assistance to Cammack.
Each time Cammack received a document from Wynne, he notified Paxton. Wynne began sending information to Cammack when Cammack told Paxton he was conducting the ongoing investigations by starting to issue subpoenas. Wynne also sent Cammack a sample prosecution memo, which Cammack said he used to draft an unfinished report of the ongoing investigations, as Cammack had yet to write one before.
Cammack testified that the further into the investigation, the more Wynne’s assistance was “unsolicited.” When Hardin asked if Cammack could agree that Wynne only provided help favorable to Paul, Cammack agreed.
Despite claims that the whistleblowers’ were against Cammock’s hiring, Cammock asserted in defense attorney Dan Cogdell’s cross-examination that as Cammock was investigating, there was no pushback from the Travis County District Attorney’s office or any of the attorney general’s office’s top deputies.
Former federal and state prosecutor Joe Brown testified that he’d been in the running for the special prosecutor job that went to Cammack. He grew concerned about a possible conflict of interest, he said, after realizing that some of Paul’s accusations targeted the State Securities Board, which previously fined Paxton.
Top deputies from the attorney general’s office finally expressed concern as Cammack received two cease-and-desist letters from Mark Penley, the AG’s former Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Prosecution and Jeff Mateer, former First Assistant Attorney General — both among the whistleblowers.
Former Deputy Attorney General for Civil Litigation Darren McCarty.had previously advised Paxton to stay out of civil litigation between the Mitte Foundation and Paul. McCarty testified that if he could go back in time, he would’ve never approved the office of the attorney general’s interference in the matter. However, at the time, McCarty said he had no reason to doubt Paxton’s claims that the charity was targeting Paul.
McCarty did start to question, and eventually shut down Paxton’s involvement in the litigation, after Paxton said he was planning on attending one of the case’s court dates. McCarty said he was in disbelief as attorney generals do not appear in court and advised Paxton not to show up. Paxton agreed to skip the proceeding.
After receiving the two cease-and-desist letters, Cammack said he knew something was wrong, and he was “blowing up” Paxton’s phone, attempting to get in contact with him.
Paxton asked Cammack drive down to Austin twice, once to Paul’s house and a second trip to meet with Paxton and Webster, who was responsible for firing the whistleblowers who had reported Paxton to the FBI.
At the first meeting at Paul’s house, Cammack left with unanswered questions about why he never received the office of the attorney general employee credential and why Cammack was still not compensated for his outside counsel services.
Eventually, during the second meeting, which Cammack described as “uncomfortable,” he learned that Webster had terminated his contract. Webster said Cammack would have to “eat” the $14,000 invoice when asked about his payment. Webster said Cammack would be fine as Webster himself has had to let go of $40,000 in invoices.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
