Former Pennsylvania senator and presidential candidate Rick Santorum is calling for the politically motivated case against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to be dropped.
Santorum said the “political witch-hunt” of Paxton is far worse than the “bogus” cases brought against both former Texas Governor Rick Perry and U.S. Sen. Tom Delay.
Both of the aforementioned conspiracies were brought about by Democrats hoping to slander partisan enemies. But Paxton’s case is nothing more than a “personal political vendetta” by those cozy with House Leadership, says Santorum.
“Ken Paxton upset the [political] establishment; he was a tea party guy, an outsider, he’s a conservative. [O]n the other side of the Texas Legislature, Byron Cook is part of the cabal who’s handed over leadership to the Democrat and Republicans jointly to take a whole different course than what Ken has historically taken.”
Santorum noted how State Rep. Byron Cook (R-Corsicana), who filed the complaint against Paxton, has already changed his story. Cook is now being sued for fraud himself in an unrelated case.
Santorum also emphasized that the civil case brought about by the Securities and Exchange Commission, which alleged similar fraud charges, was dismissed by a federal judge late last year.
“When you dismiss a case in a federal court, that means the court has to assume that [the facts] the prosecution is saying [are] true – and even if [they’re] all true – there is no case.”
Santorum criticized the Tarrant County judge who ordered Collin County to pay special prosecutors “outrageous” attorney’s fees, an amount far above the statutory limit. Santorum says the decision was based on the identity of the person being prosecuted, not the law.
Last week, the Dallas Court of Appeals issued a stay preventing the Collin County Commissioners Court from disbursing payments to the special prosecutors. The next day, a federal judge disqualified one of those prosecutors, Criminal Defense Attorney Kent Schaffer, from representing the alleged leader of the Bandidos motorcycle gang. Federal prosecutors have argued Schaffer is an unindicted co-conspirator in the Bandidos organization.
“The person who’s being paid [to prosecute Paxton] is an unindicted co-conspirator to a drug gang,” Santorum said. “For this case to continue is an outrage.”
