Webster to take over OAG in interim, highlights Paxton’s accomplishments | Texas

(The Center Square) – First Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster has taken over the Office of Attorney General after Attorney General Ken Paxton was impeached on Saturday and suspended from office. 

The impeachment, Paxton, the Texas GOP and others argue, is a “sham,” “illegal, unethical and profoundly unjust.”

In a message sent to staff on Saturday obtained by The Center Square, Webster explained to “all employees at the Office of the Attorney General” that according to state Government Code Chapter 402, if the Attorney General is absent or unable to perform his/her duties, the First Assistant Attorney General shall perform them.

He said he would “continue to lead the agency” and “the day-to-day operations of the agency will continue smoothly.” 

Webster also said he was very proud of their work and the work they accomplished during his tenure so far. During the first two fiscal years as First Assistant, he said the office doubled its litigation recoveries for Texas to recover “a whopping $2.2 billion in revenue for Texas during” Paxton’s tenure.

One of the primary complaints the House General Investigative Committee lodged against Paxton is they argued a $3.3 million settlement the OAG reached with former employees was a misuse of taxpayer money. However, the General Appropriations Act (GAA), Article IX, Section 16.04, which governs the state settlement process, stipulates that all settlements over $250,000 must be appropriated by the legislature. 

The OAG bringing the $3.3 million settlement to the legislature was in accordance with state statute. 

Because the House didn’t authorize the $3.3 million, the OAG said it doesn’t have $3.3 million in settlement to “misuse.”

The Center Square has sought to ask the House General Investigating Committee, if the settlement money wasn’t allocated to the OAG by the legislature, how could the OAG misappropriate funds it doesn’t have. Neither the committee nor its chair, Rep. Andrew Murr, have returned phone calls.

In Webster’s memo, he highlights the fact that AG Paxton’s litigation recoveries from 2015-2020 ranged from $124 million to $277 million.

Since Webster first started in 2021, the OAG doubled its revenue to $426 million. In fiscal 2022, AG Paxton recovered over half a billion dollars, he said.

On the day Paxton was impeached, he announced he secured $340 million for Texas out of a multistate $5.7 billion nationwide settlement with Walgreens. Of the multiple investigations and litigation against the pharmaceutical industry for its role in the opioid crisis, states have received over $50 billion, with Paxton securing over $2.91 billion for Texas.

Webster says that AG Paxton “has built the best litigation team in America” since October 2020, after former employees were fired, something the OAG maintains was for cause and not wrongful termination.

“When we go head-to-head against the federal government and the Department of Justice, we win,” he said. “In our affirmative litigation, we’ve accomplished a positive win rate out of the 50+ cases against the Biden DOJ within a 22 month period.”

He also pointed to Biden administration policies Paxton’s office has halted, including the Medicaid 1115 waiver. In this case, the administration sought to stop funding that would have negatively impacted Texas’ poorest regions and rural hospitals. If Paxton hadn’t won that litigation, Texas would have been out $250-$300 billion over the life of the waiver, Webster said.

At the time Paxton was fighting the Biden administration’s maneuvering, Texas Essential Healthcare Partnerships President Donald Lee told The Center Square that if Texas had lost the funding, it would have created “a cascading disaster as hospitals failed and Texans would then have no, or limited access, to hospital services. The impact will be felt most acutely in the inner city of our major metro areas, in our rural areas, and especially along the Texas-Mexico border.”

Webster also cited other litigation wins but continued to highlight the work of new staff, including a first ever-cold case unit Paxton created in 2021. 

Last year, his staff did what no other law enforcement agency had been able to do: find Baby Holly, the infant of murdered parents who was nowhere to be found when their remains were discovered in 1981. Paxton’s office located her 41 years later to notify her about her biological parents and connect her to her biological family.

Webster finished the email by saying, “The State of Texas has had no better elected official than Ken Paxton defending citizen’s rights, fighting for justice, and preserving freedom.” He also thanked them for their excellent work and said they would together “continue to be the best legal team in America.”