U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, a former top aide to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, called on his former boss to resign from his post after top members of Paxton's staff said the attorney general should be investigated for multiple crimes, including bribery.
"For the good of the people of Texas and the extraordinary public servants who serve at the Office of the Attorney General, Attorney General Ken Paxton must resign," he said in a statement. "The allegations of bribery, abuse of office, and other charges levied against him by at least 7 senior leaders of the Office of the Attorney General are more than troubling on the merits."
My statement on Texas AG Ken Paxton:
— Rep. Chip Roy (@RepChipRoy) October 5, 2020
For the good of the people of Texas and the extraordinary public servants who serve at the Office of the Attorney General, Attorney General Ken Paxton must resign.https://t.co/oe6VmO2oAu
"But, any grace for him to resolve differences and demonstrate if the allegations are false was eliminated by his choice instead to attack the very people entrusted, by him, to lead the office – some of whom I know well and whose character are beyond reproach."
Roy called the office of the attorney general "too critical to the state and her people to leave in chaos."
"The Attorney General deserves his days in court, but the people of Texas deserve a fully functioning AG’s office," he added.
Roy served as Paxton's initial first assistant attorney general during Paxton's first term, but left in a major shake-up of senior staff in 2015. He was elected to Congress as a Republican in 2018.