There have been troubling situations for Texas’s Attorney General (AG) Ken Paxton that include a securities fraud-related indictment and an FBI investigation. Nevertheless, the Office of the Texas Attorney General has cleared him of bribery accusations. The Texas Tribune’s political reporter James Barragán said that many people discussed the matter in Austin. The allegations came from former staffers whom Paxton either sacked or forced to leave.
It is uncertain what happens outside of the internal report from the Texas AG’s Office that declared that he had not committed any crime. Nevertheless, the accusations of misuse of office and bribery are part of the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s probe into Paxton.
In other news, Texas Governor Greg Abbott issued an executive order on coronavirus vaccine mandates. The order specified that local governments could not mandate the FDA-approved Pfizer-BioNTech coronavirus vaccine. Earlier bans on vaccination mandates applied only to the products approved under a EUA (emergency use authorization).
Barragán stated that the action of the Food and Drug Administration could have made it possible for US cities to pass mandates. Barragán also stated that there was potentially some leeway for American cities in this regard.
In other news, the Supreme Court found that the Donald Trump government’s ‘Remain in Mexico’ strategy for immigrants trying to come to the US could stay in force. In a recent podcast, Barragán described the ruling from the Supreme Court of the United States as ‘a big blow’ for the Joe Biden government.
