paxton, it meant serving himself and his friend nate paul. mr. paul brought incredible wealth and a lavish lifestyle to the partnership. and mr. paxton brought the incredible power of the state. and the defense is not that he did not do it, it's that it does not matter because he won the election. mr. -- he summed it up in his testimony yesterday. the office of the attorney general of the state of texas is mr. paxton's law firm and he is the firm's only client. he directs it to serve himself, not the people of texas. if you vote to condone that, then high office will simply be the most profitable choice for any self-serving crook. and it will not have to be hidden. you are here despite political pressure, because you believe that public service is a calling that you put people first. you have everything in common with the whistleblowers. each a faithful servant who spent years fighting for their values with great integrity. look at what mr. paxton did to them. think of granger maxwell. in september of 2020, he was a hall of fame hero with 40 years

nate paul got nothing.that was an attempted bribe, that was the least effective one in the history of the united states. you're going to see, nate paul got nothing. in fact, you will also see email after email after email of nate paul and his lawyer sending letters to the ag's office madder than a hornet's nest you . "you are not doing your job! you are not doing your job! you are not doing what you're supposed to do! we are going to sue the ag's office!" does that sound like somebody who has the keys to the ag's office? it sounds like somebody who might be a little entitled and thinks that public officials should jump when he says jump , may be jump and hope he jumps high enough, but one thing is clear nate paul got nothing and , he was very unhappy about it. he didn't think the ag's office was doing its job and he said letter after letter culminating in a letter where he threatened a lawsuit against the ag's office. you never saw those emails, did you? never saw those letters. you never even heard about t

nate paul wanted materials on raids on his home and businesses. in an attempt to learn how the police knew info, mr. paul wanted the full police file, even though no police file may be disclosed due to the well-established law enforcement exception. mr. paxton pressured his deputies to authorize the release of this information. had he succeeded, mr. paxton would have created precedent allowing any person under criminal investigation, whether for a violent felony or a sex offense, to obtain confidential information about the investigations of their conduct. mr. paxton simply did not care that his request to release information to nate paul would have put police and victims across the state at risk. unfortunately the house investigation revealed that mr. paxton's relationship with mr. paul was far more extensive than even his closest advisors knew. over the course of three months, mr. paxton personally met with nate paul more than 20 times. many times mr. paxton would ditch his security detail and nate pauline set up a secret uber account that allowe

nate paul wanted materials on raids on his home and businesses. in an attempt to learn how the police knew info, mr. paul wanted the full police file, even though no police file may be disclosed due to the well-established law enforcement exception. mr. paxton pressured his deputies to authorize the release of this information. had he succeeded, mr. paxton would have created precedent allowing any person under criminal investigation, whether for a violent felony or a sex offense, to obtain confidential information about the investigations of their conduct. mr. paxton simply did not care that his request to release information to nate paul would have put police and victims across the state at risk. unfortunately the house investigation revealed that mr. paxton's relationship with mr. paul was far more extensive than even his closest advisors knew. over the course of three months, mr. paxton personally met with nate paul more than 20 times. many times mr. paxton would ditch his security detail and nate pauline set up a secret uber account that allowe

nate paul thought it was, we will never know. and to suggest that the keys of the attorney general's office were turned over to nate paul, look at his correspondence. he was madder than a hornets nest with the attorney general's office, you're not doing your job, you have a conflict of interest, you guys are grossly negligent. he was mad. he was pistol -- he was because the attorney general's office would not do what he wanted them to do. he wanted them to investigate. if you look at the correspondence from nate paul, senators, and you prepare it from what you just heard, you will see two different stories. nate paul was very unhappy with the attorney general's office. that does not sound like somebody who had the keys to the office. he kept accusing the attorney general's office of not being neutral. he accused the attorney general's office of having bias. he accuse the attorney general's office of being in the bag for the foundation. he accuse the attorney general's office of employing people that were against its interests. th

prepare an opinion in an attempt to avoid the impending foreclosure sales of properties belonging to nate paul or business entities controlled by paul. paxton concealed his actions by soliciting the chair of a senate committee to serve as a strong requester. paxton directed employees of his office to reverse their legal conclusion for the benefit of paul. >> those allegations are untrue, therefore he pleads not guilty. i didn't mean to step on you. the allegations i just heard are untrue, therefore ken paxton pleads not guilty. >> article three. disregard of official duty and abuse of the open record process. while holding office as attorney general kenneth paxton is used his official power to the public administration law specifically paxton directed employees of his office to act contrary to law by refusing to render a proper decision relating to a public information request from records held by the department of public safety and by issuing a decision involving another public information request that was contrary to law and applicable legal precedent. >> attorney general paxton, how deeply?

guest: the big one is nate paul, the austin developer and a one-time ken paxton campaign donor who is tied into this. the allegations are paul had many legal actions against him, criminal and civil. he is right now indicted on mortgage fraud. the allegations are that ken paxton basically turned over the attorney general office to assist and provide legal assistance favorable to nate paul. in exchange nate paul funded a home remodel for ken paxton and hired a woman to his company with whom ken paxton was allegedly having an extramarital affair. he is going to be a very interesting witness. i am guessing that he will plead the fifth because he is indicted in federal court. that is going to be one that is really interesting. there are many others. i think -- the people who may have done construction on his house. the senate wants to know who paid for this remodel. host: will the attorney general himself testified? guest: i doubt it. he filed a motion that he would not have to testify. the house prosecutors filed a response saying it is up to us. if we want to call you we are going to cal

this is alleged to have benefited nate paul because he was having some foreclosure sales coming up the week, so, again, we're monitoring this ongoing testimony. we're only three witnesses in. three days in, as well. >> lots of witnesses to go, again, it was a republican house that impeached him. it is a republican senate that will decide whether to convict him. will dupree of kxan, thank you. that will do it for me today. a wild day, a witching hour of news as usual. "deadline: white house" starts right now. >>> hi there, everyone. it's 4:00 in new york. we start today with moves by fulton county district attorney fani willis to counter threats to her case stemming from the halls of capitol hill to the darkest corners of the internet. all because her probe involves a co-defendant unlike any other in american history. the first in a court filing wednesday d.a. willis asked the judge presiding over the trial to shield the identities of prospective jurors in her sprawling and comprehensive racketeering case that indicted 19 people including donald trump in the plot to overturn the 2020 el

he's been talking about the lengths paxton went to to help one of his donors and allies nate paul.for us. what's the latest from the trial today, jane? >> reporter: chris, this is day three of hearing sometimes emotional testimony about his former staff about the attorney general's action, the growing concern and eventual alarm these staffers felt based on the attorney general's actions. ryan bangert testified about being urged to reverse an opinion that the office of the attorney general had taken by an anxious and increasingly anxious attorney general ken paxton. he went on to talk about a lunch that he felt he had no choice to attend despite the fact that he felt it was ill proper and had lunch with nate paul, this donor who's accused of giving bribes to the attorney general. let's take a listen to what ryan bangert said about his own decision to eventually report his boss to the fbi. >> i went to the fbi because i believed based on my experience over the previous nine months that the attorney general had abandoned his obligation to work on behalf of the interests of the people

there was alleged misconduct in an affair that he had with a woman who was also employed by nate paulssarily a traditional criminal trial even though it very much looked like one at many p

. >> reporter: paxton is accused abusing his power to help friend nate paul, a real estate developer. paul was arrested earlier this year by the fbi for financial crimes. paxtop is facing 16 articles of impeachment on charges of abusing his power, disregard of official duty and bribery involving an alleged affair. most of the testimony came from eight whistleblowers would worked as senior staff in the a.g.'s office. the conservative political appointees were fired or resigned after they took their concerns to the fbi. >> the laws were being abused. the behavior and the conduct of the attorney general of texas -- >> objection. >> is outrageous. >> he abused the entire office of the attorney general of texas to benefit nate paul and it got worse and worse. >> pax tton's lawyer call it hogwash and a joke. one lawyer called it -- >> dumber than a bucket of hair. >> all of this foolishness that they've accused this man of is false. but the only question i have in my mind is whether there is courage in this room to put this man back to work. and vote not guilty. >> reporter: ken paxton is

>> it all centers around the attorney general's relationship with the developer and donor, nate paul.ations in paxton's home as well as gave a job to a woman paxton was having an affair with. and they say that these were bribes and he received, that paul received favorable legal assistance as well as access to the office of the attorney general in exchange for this alleged corruption. the senators are taking this very seriously. this unusual proceeding this morning during the swearing in of the jurors, they brought out sam houston's bible. the first president of the republic of texas. very historic character. let's listen to that moment. >> we seldom bring out this sam houston bible. we do it at inaugurations and other special occasions. this is a very significant and serious occasion. that will be in the history books. >> now, to remove him from office, it will take two-thirds of the 31 senators here. of course, only 30 senators can vote. attorney general paxton's wife has been recused from voting as a juror. >> tony, you've covered multiple investigations against paxton. what are we

allegations relate to ken paxton's alleged actions to aid a well-known austin investor by the name of nate paulself was under fbi investigation. and, according to the allegations, ken paxton took a number of steps in his official capacity as attorney general to assist nate paul and then received benefits from doing so. >> we heard part of what mr. paxton's defense team had to say but what else are they saying? >> they are essentially saying that all of this has been misconstrued, that any alleged evidence or any allegations brought forth by these whistleblowers is just in accurate, that they got it wrong and that the house investigators who spent months digging into his conduct, that they simply have it wrong. and they are also contending that this is a weaponization of the impeachment process, that ken paxton was duly elected last fall in november 2 a third term. they say that this effort is an effort to undermine the electorate and the voters of texas. >> tony, what would it take to get a conviction, and if -- is that likely in this republican led state senate? >> so, really, it has been desc

of impeachment have to do with his relationship with a friend and campaign donor by the name of nate paul, he's a real set it developer who was try -- caught up in a number of legal battles himself. essentially what the articles of impeachment have accused him of is abusing the power and his ability as attorney general to craft legal opinions and other sorts of things to be able to help this campaign donor. there was alleged misconduct in an affair that he had with a woman who was also employed by nate paul. so you know, a rather large list and litany of accusation that ken paxton has found. we should remember this is a political trial, not necessarily a traditional criminal trial even though it very much looked like one at many points. despite all of the evidence that was presented in this case, all these articles of impeachment were brought by republicans in the house of representatives. remember, republicans dominate every level of government here in this state. now here in the senate republican, senators siding with ken paxton to return him to office. in the chamber they are beginning

is also investigating claims made by paxton's staff, that he abused his power in office, to help nate paulto evade accountability, even if he were to remain in office. your thoughts on whether or not justice will eventually catch up with, in one way or the other. and how does this play out with texas voters, in the next cycle, if ken paxton remains, and seeks office? >> well look, we shouldn't be worrying about voters at this exact moment. justice needs to be done. and the texas senate should not play politics. again, they should follow the facts, they should look at the numerous things that the house has already found, on a bipartisan basis, that ken paxton is guilty of and, they should push him out of office. so we shouldn't leave it to the last election. but of course, as you mentioned, the fbi investigation is still. they are and we trust that they are going to follow the facts as well, and that justice will be done. and so ultimately, the wrongdoings of ken paxton finally caught up with them. and, whether or not we see justice done with this impeachment trial, in coming days and weeks

why was that he wanted to get the documents to nate paul.ere and try to explain, that you would have a hard time doing that and convince senators there. >> there is also this part, which i want to read from your piece. among the state senators that mostly in silence was mr. paxton's wife and mr. paxton. according to the rules, she would be counted as president for the purpose of the two thirds majority needed. firing, that being any deliberations, she cannot vote. she has to sit there and listen through all of this. some of which also contains allegations of having an extramarital affair and actions that the attorney general engaged in that benefited the woman that he was engaging in this affair with. talk us through that. >> it has been observed that can paxson appeared the first day of the trial and sat through the morning proceedings. and then has not been there since. at the same time, his wife was barred from taking part in any deliberations. she has to sit there every day and listen to every bit of testimony. i think it's something tha

to investigate nate pauls wild and baseless conspiracy theories about folks out to get him. an alleged cover-up. paxton using a burner phone and a fake uber account to hide trips to see paul and a woman who worked for paul with whom paxton had an affair. the state house investigated this alleged sleaze and a republican-led committee in may concluded that the chief law enforcement officer of texas had violated multiple laws. the articles of impeachment that committee voted for unanimously are really quite something. the charges include directing attorney generals office employees to take steps to intervene in a lawsuit from a charity against paul in order to hurt the charity. retaliated against whistleblowers and some charges that relate to the delay of the security's fraud indictment of paxtan in 2015 when he was accused of defrauding investors in a tech start-up, charges to which he plead not guilty. the republican-led house voted to impeach paxton overwhelmingly. 121-23. but yesterday, the republican-led senate voted to acquit him on all counts, despite all of this evidenc

guest: the big one is nate paul, the austin developer and one time ken paxton campaign donor who is tiedis. the allegations are that paul has many legal actions against him, criminal and civil. right now they have him on mortgage fraud in the allegations are the ken paxton turned over the attorney general's office to provide legal assistance favorable to nate paul and in exchange, naples funded a home remodel for ken paxton and hired a woman to his company with whom ken paxton was allegedly having an extramarital affair. he is going to be an interesting witness. i'm guessing he will plead the fifth. that's going to be one that's interesting. there is many others. the senate wants to know who paid for this construction on his house. host: will the attorney general himself testified? guest: i doubt it. he filed a motion that he would not have to testify in the house prosecutors filed a response saying it's up to us. there is implications of pleading the fifth and it looks like you're hiding something. i don't think ken paxton wants that optic. i think he wants to avoid the witness stand at

paxton interfering in a lawsuit against nate paul issuing a legal opinioning that benefited paul a pppointingnd baseless conspiracy theories of folks out to get him, concerns about an alleged cover-up and paxton using a burner fake and fake phone to hide trips to sea paul as well as a woman who worked for paul for whom the married paxton allegedly had an affair. the republican-led state house investigated all of this alleged sleaze and ultimately a republican-led committee in may concluded that the chief law enforcement officer of texas had violated multiple laws. the articles of impeachment are quite something and intervening in a lawsuit in order to hurt the charity and the indictment of paxton in dallas in 2015 when he was accused of defrauding investors in a tech start-up. charges to which paxton pleaded want guilty. the republican-led house voted to impeach paxton overwhelmingly, 121 to 23. but yesterday the republican-led senate voted to acquit him on all counts despite all this evidence after what the republican impeachment manager said was intimidation by the maga wing of the gop, and

impeachment, trial former advisers testify that he testified them to find a real tree developer nate paul unveiled new evidence against paxton, including a fake uber account that paul allegedly set up for paxton, in which paxton then allegedly used to hide an extramarital affair with the former state senate staffer using the fake account to book rides to see her. yesterday, paxton was acquitted by senate republicans who served alongside his wife. state senator angela paxton. she was required to attend, but not required to participate in the vote. paxton, meanwhile, still faces trial on federal securities fraud charges, and remains under a separate fbi investigation. for more on, this i'm joined by two lawmakers from texas, the democratic united states caucus jasmine crockett, and the democratic state representative in johnston. welcome, to both of you. and thank you for being with us. representative johnson, when this was happening, yesterday, i had my old friend roland martin from texas on here. and i described to viewers might not be following this, the misadventures of paxton, over the

employees of his office to prepare an opinion in an attempt to avoid the impending foreclosure to nate paul or entities owned by paul. and he solicited the chair by chair committee-- >> we're going to continue to watch this and bring you updates as soon as we get nm on the impeachment trial there, and we'll be right back. stick with us. there's challenges, and i love overcoming challenges. ♪ when better money habits® content first started coming out, it expanded what i could do for special olympics athletes with developmental needs. thousands of bank of america employees like scott spend countless hours volunteering to teach people how to reach their financial goals. it felt good. it felt like i could take on the whole world. from pep in their step to shine in their coats, when people switch their dog's food to the farmer's dog, the effects can seem like magic. but there's no magic involved. (dog bark) it's just smarter, healthier pet food. it's amazing what real food can do. okay everyone, our mission is to provide complete balanced nutrition for strength and energy. woo hoo! ensure, compl

including bribery and corruption, and at the center of the case is whether real estate investor nate paulr paxton's home renovations in exchange for favors and that paxton used the powers of his office to protect paul, who was indicted on federal charges of making false statements to banks. now, the texas trial seeing two weeks of testimony where the prosecution said they found unprecedented abuse in the attorney general's office. the defense arguing that there was lack of evidence during the trial calling the impeachment proceedings a sham. paxton's former top aides testifying before the senate sharing that they were fired after reporting concerns about paxton's behavior to law enforcement, even including an alleged extramarital affair. now, paxton, a republican, faced a republican-led prosecution, and one of those state senate legislators who listened in to the testimony was actually his wife, angela paxton, who cannot participate in deliberations or vote. while paxton was suspended from office when he was impeached in may, and a conviction requires a two-thirds majority. now both paul

witness testimony alleging that he repeatedly used his office by trying to help his friend and donor, nate paul may, when lawmakers overwhelmingly voted to adopt the 20th trickles of impeachment. 100 and 21 to 33. it wasn't even close on the health side. paxton support in the senate's proved unrelenting. now, he likely won't face accountability from his colleagues in the state legislator. let's not forget, controversy has followed this man since the very beginning. yes, let us not forget that he is still under investigation in texas for securities fraud charges dating back to 2015. that was his first year in office. the impeachment trial really stems from more recent allegations, namely in 2021 his own aides, his own aides, accused him of misconduct. they were subsequently fired. he was facing 20 separate counts, including district guarding his official duty, making false statements on official records, constitutional rivalry. well paxton and his republican allies are celebrating today's acquittal, the texas democratic caucus issued a statement reading, and part, the senate, quote, great abilit

funds, all go back to the relationship that attorney general ken paxton had with developer and donor nate paule prosecutors in this, allege that paul paid for renovations and gave a woman that attorney general ken paxton was having an extramarital relationship with a job. a lot of this is not news to texans. ken paxton's own senior staff reported him to the fbi saying they believed he should be investigated for corruption back in 2020 and that was public. now, what appears to have been the final straw for republicans in the house of representatives was the settlement that paxton struck up with some of those whistle-blower people who worked for him and $3.3 million settlement, he asked tax payers to pay for that and that was the final straw for house republicans. now, it remains to be seen whether senate republicans feel the same way. >> okay. so, jane, this is just getting under way, the senate trial in the state house of texas. thank you for that reporting. i have some breaking news i want to share with you out of georgia now. five more of donald trump's co-defendants have entered not guilty

testimony alleging the paxton hundred needed leah beuse to's office to help is donor and friend nate pauliction on some articles of impeachment. paxton was immediately reinstated. of course, has republican allies were quick to celebrate his acquittal, including the disgraced ex president who called it a, quote, historic texas sized victory. just like trump, paxton's legal troubles are far from over. joining me now is tony, investigative reporter at austin american-statesman. tony, i know you've been, i was gonna say, knee-deep, i want to say shoulder deep in this since day one. you were there for this trial. explain to me, make this makes sense, despite 70% of house republicans voting to impeach paxton in may, only two of 19 voted in favor of conviction for any article of impeachment. what happened here? >> well, here's one explanation. that is when the house voted on those articles of impeachment, it was after a secret investigation. so, the timeline, this is one of the main criticisms, the timeline is very tight from when these articles of impeachment were made public to when they were

that man is nate paul, who by the way, was under fbi investigation himself at that time and was subsequently charged with federal crimes over the summer. ken paxton agreed to settle a claim with those whistleblowers for three point $3 million. he took that -- two texas lawmakers earlier this year, and in the texas house, lawmakers said, if we plan to settle this with taxpayer dollars, we must understand fully and broadly what ken paxton is accused of. so they launched an investigation, and at the end of their investigation, it resulted in those 20 articles of impeachment against ken paxton. >> and the way in which this trial ended up becoming a tester gop loyalty, tony? >> i think it absolutely underscores the infighting that is going on within the gop party in texas. but ultimately, we know that those gop senators faced pressure. there is political machinery fired up here in texas with money pouring in to preserve paxton as attorney general and the attached threat the senators they saw as vulnerable to voting against ken paxton. the threat that, yes, they would absolutely receive well funde

they say paxton with out of his way to help his friend, and wealthy donor and real estate developer nate pauln for fraud. in june of this, your paul was charged with eight counts of making false statements to financial institutions. but, it appears paxton have been working relentlessly to ward off this outcome for his friend. he hired an outside lawyer to investigate the fbi's raid -- oath in 2019, despite objections from his staff. and, even after forensic experts found no ron doing by the agents, paxton's age -- then -- to the fbi. some of them resigned, in protest. and paxton subsequently fired the ones who did not. from fired aides, they then sued for wrongful retaliation. one, and get this, paxton proceeded to asked the texas skate state legislator to pay out the 3.3 million dollar settlement. a texas house investigation on that funding request soon followed, and that brings us back to tuesday, when paxton will finally face the repercussions for his alleged actions. and those repercussions could send ripple effect for the ride the republican party. because quite frankly, paxson's impact

nate, good morning. >> hey gianna, hope all is well. good to see you. coming up on "cbs mornings," anthony talks exclusively with singer and bad company frontman paul rogersoming a health scare that left him unable to sing or play guitar for six months. >>> also, tony award winner lesley odom jr. is here in studio toto talk about rereturn to broadway for the first time since starring in the hit musical "hamilton." >>> and we'll get you ready for the new season of "the amazing race" with host phil cogan and we have an amazing surprise for him as well. everything you need to know and of course more on the show. we will see you at 7:00 and i must say, the san francisco 49ers looking purdy, purdy good. >> ooh nate. i like what you did there. yeah, brock is looking very purdy as well. ooh we're going to talk more about that. all right nate. thank you so much. see you soon. >>> all right, time now for your money watch report. after more than three years of covid related reprieves, federal student loan borrowers need to resume payments starting october 1st. that's coming very soon. so cbs news business analyst jill schlesinger is here to tell us how to prepare.