Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton fled his home with his wife on Monday to avoid being served a subpoena in a legal battle over funding for abortions, according to an affidavit filed in federal court.
A process server was attempting to serve Paxton with a subpoena for a court hearing scheduled for Tuesday in Austin. Several abortion rights organizations are seeking a court order barring state officials from pursuing criminal charges against their employees should they resume funding out-of-state abortions for Texas residents.
Lawyers in Paxton’s office representing Texas in the case didn’t immediately respond outside regular business hours to a request for comment. But Paxton responded on Twitter after The Texas Tribune first reported the incident late Monday night.
Paxton said reporters are trying “to drum up another controversy” about him, calling it “a ridiculous waste of time.” He also raised reports of conservatives being attacked and how he was concerned for his family’s safety.
“This is a ridiculous waste of time and the media should be ashamed of themselves. All across the country, conservatives have faced threats to their safety — many threats that received scant coverage or condemnation from the mainstream media,” he wrote in his initial tweet responding to The Texas Tribune report.
This is a ridiculous waste of time and the media should be ashamed of themselves. All across the country, conservatives have faced threats to their safety — many threats that received scant coverage or condemnation from the mainstream media.
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) September 27, 2022
“It’s clear that the media wants to drum up another controversy involving my work as Attorney General, so they’re attacking me for having the audacity to avoid a stranger lingering outside my home and showing concern about the safety and well-being of my family,” he wrote in a second response.
It’s clear that the media wants to drum up another controversy involving my work as Attorney General, so they’re attacking me for having the audacity to avoid a stranger lingering outside my home and showing concern about the safety and well-being of my family.
— Attorney General Ken Paxton (@KenPaxtonTX) September 27, 2022
Ernesto Martin Herrera, who was tapped to deliver the subpoena, said in the affidavit that he arrived at the Paxton residence in McKinney in Collin County just outside Dallas at 8:28 a.m. on Monday. A woman who identified herself as Angela Paxton answered the door and informed him that her husband was on the phone inside, but was in a “hurry to leave.”
Herrera returned to his car outside to wait, and more than an hour later he saw the garage door open and Paxton exiting his home. Herrera walked up the driveway to approach the state’s top attorney, and called his name.
“As soon as he saw me and heard me call his name out, he turned around and RAN (sic) back inside the house through the same door in the garage,” he said in the affidavit.
Minutes later, Herrera said, Angela Paxton exited the house and climbed inside of a black Chevrolet truck parked in the driveway. She opened the back passenger door before starting the truck and shortly thereafter Paxton himself exited the house and headed for the truck, ignoring Herrera who had begin to call his name.
The document states that the process server loudly announced that he was serving Paxton legal documents, and placed them in a visible location on the ground. Both Angela and Ken Paxton remained inside the truck and drove away, leaving the documents behind.
Ken Paxton, a Republican, has been under indictment on state securities fraud charges for more than five years and is also under investigation by the FBI for allegations that he misused his position to aid a prominent donor. He denies wrongdoing in both cases.
Angela Paxton, a Texas state senator, is also a Republican. Like her husband, she is seeking reelection on Nov. 8 and has been endorsed by former President Donald Trump.
The case is Fund Texas Choice v. Paxton, 22-cv-00859, US District Court, Western District of Texas (Austin).
