An extramarital affair Texas Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton, along with a donor aide, had helped connect the dots on why the Republican was using his power in ways now central to his impeachment trial over corruption charges, a former top aide tested on Wednesday.

It answered that why question, said Jeff Mateer, Paxton’s second-in-command at the Texas attorney general’s office.

Mateer’s account, who reported Paxton to the FBI in 2020 on allegations of abuse of office, quickly injected an affair Paxton admitted to staff into the landmark impeachment trial, the most serious threat to Paxton’s political career after years of criminal prosecution. and alleged scandal.

At the center of the case are allegations that the top Texas attorney used his power unlawfully to help Austin real estate developer Nate Paul, one of his political supporters who was under FBI investigation at the time and charged this summer with making false statements . to banks.

During hours of sometimes tense cross-examination, Paxton attorney Tony Buzbee did not delve into the case, but dismissed Paul’s $25,000 campaign contribution as an unremarkable donation to Texas politics and suggested that Mateer and other deputies wanted to seize power.

You staged a coup, didn’t you? said Buzbee, a high-profile Houston attorney whose past clients include the former Texas governor. Rick Perry.

Absolutely not, Mateer replied.

Paxton, who is not required to attend the Texas Senate proceedings, was absent again when Mateer became the first key witness in a trial that could take several weeks. Paxton’s wife, Senator Angela Paxton, is banned from voting during the trial and watched from her desk as Mateer tested.

According to an Associated Press list, more than 100 people have been identified as potential witnesses for the trial. Including the woman with whom Paxton had an affair, but it is unclear whether she or others on the list will testify.

By starting with Mateer, Republican impeachment managers opened their case with one of the closest members of Paxton’s former inner circle. But they also brought forward a first witness with solid conservative credentials before a jury of mostly Republican senators.

Mateer, a Christian conservative lawyer, was once nominated by former President Trump for a federal judgeship. Paxton has argued that the impeachment is politically motivated and driven by members of the Republican Party who are RINOs, meaning Republicans in name only.

The Republican-led House voted 121 to 23 in May to impeach Paxton, with 20 articles of impeachment including abuse of public trust, unfit for office and bribery. The vote immediately suspended Paxton, making him the third incumbent in Texas’ nearly 200-year history to be impeached.

A conviction requires a two-thirds majority or 21 senators, meaning that if all twelve Democrats vote against Paxton, at least nine Republicans would have to join them.

According to Mateer, he and other senior personnel under Paxton had become increasingly concerned when their boss took a seemingly personal interest in Paul’s claims that he had been falsely targeted by the FBI. He said they got into trouble especially when Paxton hired an inexperienced outside attorney to investigate Paul’s allegations, which seemed baseless.

Mateer said he struggled to understand why Paxton was helping Paul, but that learning about the ongoing affair made the situation clearer to him. He said he and other staff members, including seven other whistleblowers who also went to the FBI, tried to help Paxton but to no avail.

“We couldn’t protect him because he didn’t want to be protected,” Mateer said.

How much Paxton will participate in Texas’ first impeachment trial in nearly half a century remains to be seen. Paxton left the proceedings early and cannot be forced to testify.

I want to thank you all for your prayers and support. I will never back down from defending freedom, Paxton wrote Tuesday on X, formerly known as Twitter.

On Tuesday, dozens of Paxton supporters came to watch the proceedings start, some of whom traveled hundreds of miles. But on Wednesday, many squabbles in the Senate Tribune resumed bare as a trial.

For years, many Texas Republicans have resisted criticizing or facing head-on the litany of legal troubles surrounding Paxton, who has remained popular among the far right by aligning closely with Trump and rushing his office into lawsuits that challenge the priorities of have shut down the Biden administration. .