Ken Paxton impeachment trial: Day 5 takeaways
AUSTIN (CBSNewsTexas.com) - Week two of the impeachment trial of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton began Monday morning.
On the fifth day of the trial, senators heard from four witnesses, learned more about Paxton's alleged affair and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick laid out an updated timeline.
Here are the key takeaways from Monday:
Details of alleged affair emerge
Monday afternoon, Katherine "Missy" Cary took the stand. Cary is Attorney General Ken Paxton's former Chief of Staff. She spent more than two decades at the office before retiring in October 2020.
Cary is the first witness who gave details about the impact of Paxton's alleged affair on the attorney general's office.
While eating lunch at a restaurant in the spring of 2018, Cary testified she overheard a conversation between a man and a woman that concerned her. She later learned the woman was Laura Olson, who Paxton has been accused of having an affair with.
She said that the alleged affair was having a negative impact on the office and made staffers feel uncomfortable. She also said that Mrs. Angela Paxton, who was running for Texas Senate, had called the office asking where her husband was.
Cary said she confronted Paxton that summer and he admitted to having an extramarital affair. She believed the conversation was productive and that Paxton would stop.
But a year later, Cary said she learned the affair was still ongoing. During a discussion with Paxton about it, she said he was frustrated with her.
"He still loved Ms. Olson and he wanted to work it out with me," Cary said.
When asked what he meant by that, Cary said, "For me to be more accommodating as far as the security detain, the travel, any of his requests."
Who was 'the real boss'?
The first witness called Monday was Mark Penley, who is a former top deputy of Paxton's and another whistleblower.
According to Penley, in June 2020, Paxton asked him to investigate federal authorities who had executed search warrants on Paul's home and businesses. Penley said the thought of the state investigating these authorities was "insane."
After two initial meetings with Paul and his lawyer, Penley said he set up a third meeting with both and with Paxton to explain the office would not be moving forward with the case. According to Penley, this made Paul angry.
"Mr. Paul acted like we didn't understand who the real boss was," Penley said. "It wasn't the attorney general, it was him."
Penley said that although the attorney general initially seemed to agree with him, he did a 180.
"I was concerned the attorney general was turning against me, that he might fire me because I wouldn't agree with what he wanted," he said.
Penley believed Paxton was under Paul's thumb and was possibly even being blackmailed. He said he ultimately decided to go to the FBI with other whistleblowers, even though he believed it would lead to his firing because he believed the situation to be dangerous and unique.
"We were the only ones who could stop it and we had to."
Updated trial timeline
Monday morning, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick told senators that both the prosecution and defense had a little more than 14 hours left to present their cases. By this math, that means both sides could run out of time by Thursday morning and senators may begin deliberating by late Thursday or Friday.
And there will be no more days off for senators.
"We'll stay here through Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday until you've made a decision on every article," Patrick said.
You can watch a live stream of the trial in the player above or on the CBS News Texas YouTube channel starting at 9 a.m.
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