Ken Paxton impeachment trial continues into 6th day with witness Brandon Cammack on the stand
UPDATE 5:47 P.M: Trial resumes
UPDATE 5:30 P.M.: Trial takes a 10-minute break.
UPDATE 5:07 P.M.: Garrison was excused and the next witness, Darren McCarty, the former deputy attorney general over civil litigation was called to the stand.
UPDATE 4:45 P.M.: After being questioned by the House, Garrison was passed to Paxton lawyer Mitch Little for questioning.
UPDATE 4:30 P.M.: Brown was briefly questioned by both the prosecution and the defense before being excused. The House called Kendall Garrison as the next witness. Garrison is the president and CEO of Amplify Credit Union.
Garrison said Paul obtained loans from Amplify, which became delinquent and were in jeopardy of foreclosure.
UPDATE 4:10 P.M.: Cammack was dismissed after brief questioning from the defense. Joe Brown is on the stand now. He was appointed as the Eastern District US Attorney in 2018 by former President Donald Trump. He was also considered for the outside counsel job that Cammack was hired for.
During his testimony Tuesday afternoon, Brown testified that while he was speaking with Paxton about the outside counsel job, he noted some red flags. A concern for Brown was the fact that the job would include investigating the FBI, the State Securities Board and DPS.
"I was aware of the fact that his [Paxton's] indictment involved those three agencies," Brown said. "I said, 'I had some concern … that I would be under your [Paxton's] authority and investigating the same agencies that were involved in your indictment.'"
Ultimately, Brown did not get the job. He said on Tuesday that he didn't know what happened.
UPDATE 3:37 P.M.: Trial resumes.
UPDATE 3 P.M.: Trial on 25-minute break.
UPDATE 2:40 P.M.: Cammack says he also received a cease and desist letter from AG's Office, which is when he learned the contract he signed to work for Paxton was not valid. He said he hadn't received the contract signed by Paxton and thought everything was ok.
Cammack says met with Nate Paul and his lawyer and was surprised to see Paxton there. Cammack says at a later date in a meeting at a Starbucks between him, Paxton and his new top deputy, they told him his contract was terminated, he would not be paid and was left there.
UPDATE 2:10 P.M.: Cammack said he conducted a second grand jury investigation. Like the first one, he says it involved a complaint by Nate Paul.
UPDATE 1:10 P.M.: Trial has resumed.
UPDATE 12:45 P.M.: Late Tuesday morning, Cammack testified that despite repeatedly asking for government credentials from Paxton, he never received them. This became a particularly frustrating issue for him while trying to serve subpoenas.
Cammack testified that while working as outside counsel, Nate Paul's lawyer sent him unprompted emails about the investigation into Paul's claims. Included in those emails were the names of people to serve subpoenas to. Among the names were people involved in litigation against either Paul or Paxton. Cammack testified that he didn't realize this fact and wouldn't have sent the subpoenas if he did.
He said when he tried to subpoena Microsoft, he received an email back telling him without a government email address, they wouldn't be able to respond.
"I knew I would need some type of credential to be able to do what I was asked to do," Cammack said.
U.S. Marshals also showed up at his office in Houston. Paxton was the first person he called.
"I just started blowing up his phone until he answered," Cammack said.
When they spoke, he said Paxton advised him not to speak with Marshals without hiring an attorney.
"I've gotten basically the rug pulled out from under me," Cammack said of how he felt at the time. "I'm going and working, everything is okay, I'm getting affirmation that everything is good and all of the sudden, I've got cease and desist letters, U.S. Marshals showing up at my office, and I'm trying to figure out how did we go from that to this."
UPDATE 12 P.M.: Trial is on a lunch break until 1 p.m.
UPDATE 11:35 A.M.: Attorney General Paxton wanted to use encrypted communications when speaking about the Paul case, Cammack testified Tuesday morning. He said that Paxton asked him to download the Signal app and sent emails from a Proton Mail address.
He also said Paxton called him from different phone numbers, so he bought a phone specifically for taking Paxton's calls so he wouldn't miss them.
UPDATE 11:30 A.M.: Trial has resumed.
UPDATE 11:25 A.M.: Trial is taking a 10-minute break.
UPDATE 11:10 A.M.: After an initial meeting with Paul, Cammack testifies he was "convinced" by what he was shown as proof of Paul's allegations against federal authorities. He believed if Paul was telling the truth, it was a "big deal."
In his work as outside counsel, Cammack said he only communicated with Paxton, despite repeatedly asking about getting support from the attorney general's office.
UPDATE 10:40 A.M.: Cammack testified that Paxton reached out to him in August 2020 and told him he had been referred to him by Michael Wynne, who was Paul's attorney.
Cammack said in a meeting with Paxton a few days later, the attorney general told him he was looking to hire a prosecutor for a criminal case where there were potential violations of the Texas penal code. According to testimony, Paxton said his own staff would not work on the case and that he just wanted to find out the truth about what happened.
Paxton later told Cammack he got the job.
At the time Cammack was hired by Paxton, he had been an attorney for five years. He was hired as an outside counselor at a rate of $300/hour.
UPDATE 10:25 P.M.: Tuesday morning's first witness called was Brandon Cammack.
Senators have heard Cammack's name repeatedly over the course of the past week. He's the outside counselor hired by Attorney General Paxton in 2020 to investigate real estate developer Nate Paul's claims about a raid conducted on his house and businesses.
UPDATE 10:10 A.M.: After an hour delay, the trial has started.
Both the house and defense had issues they needed to bring to the court.
AUSTIN (CBSNewsTexas.com) – Day six of the impeachment trial of suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton continues Tuesday morning.
Week two of the trial 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.
Monday afternoon, Katherine "Missy" Cary took the stand. Cary is 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.
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."
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.
Watch the trial live in the player above or on the CBS News Texas YouTube channel.
MORE:
