Former Chief of Staff of the attorney general's office Katherine 'Missy' Cary testified on Monday that Ken Paxton admitted to having an affair with Laura Olson at a staff meeting – after Paxton initially told Cary that Olson was his real estate agent. Despite being brought up in the articles of...
Katherine"Missy" Cary, former attorney with the attorney general's office was the first witness called to discuss Paxton's alleged affair.Former Chief of Staff of the attorney general's office Katherine"Missy" Cary testified on Monday that Ken Paxton admitted to having an affair with Laura Olson at a staff meeting – after Paxton initially told Cary that Olson was his real estate agent.
Paxton claimed to have ended the extramarital affair during the staff meeting. Yet, Cary found out later when Paxton came to her upset, “red in the face,” and “waving his hands,’ that the attorney general was still “in love” with Olson and requested that Cary accept this. Gregg Cox, former Travis County assistant district attorney, is sworn in by presiding office Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick.Much like the whistleblowers' earlier testimonies, Penley illustrated his concerns about the depth of Paxton's involvement with Nate Paul, a real estate investor and political donor to the attorney general, who was under federal investigation and alleged that authorities had wrongfully targeted him under this probe.
“I thought, why is the attorney general involved in this,” Penley said. “This is not a state matter from what I could tell, and I thought it was very suspicious that someone who was a target of a federal investigation was reaching out to the attorney general for legal help.” Cox also testified that he was initially building a case against Paxton for allegedly accepting bribes and participating in other abuses of office related to Paul – but eventually dropped it.
Penley used the findings of the office’s forensic investigation team to call a meeting with Paul, Wynne and Paxton to announce the office would no longer be looking into Paul’s accusations against state and federal authorities. Paxton instead requested that Penley write down anything he might need to look into so that the attorney general could look into getting the materials for Penley, as Paxton told Penley that Paul and Wynne did not trust him.
At that meeting, Paxton told Penley they needed to get the matter of the contract settled as Paxton had hired Cammack despite the document's status, and Cammack needed to get paid.