“Pardon me (sort of),” Paxton asks Trump

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton says he has “informally requested amnesty” from Donald Trump before the president leaves office on Jan. 20, 2021.

Paxton, who turns 58 on Dec. 23, was indicted in July 2015 and has yet to be tried on felony securities fraud charges, accused of persuading investors to buy technology firm stocks without disclosing he would receive compensation for it.

More recently, The Associated Press reported that the FBI is investigating claims by several of Paxton’s former top aides, who have either resigned or been fired, that he abused his office by intervening in legal matters to benefit a friend who donated money to his 2018 re-election campaign.

“I say ‘informally’ because I’m not going to put anything in writing,” Paxton said. “I’ve learned my lesson about that. But I still insist I’ve never done anything wrong and if I actually ask for a pardon I’ll be admitting I’m guilty, which I’m not. Right?”

Paxton has been one of Trump’s staunchest allies the past four years. Lately he has railed against the results of the Nov. 3 election, insisting the courts nullify President-Elect Joseph Biden’s victory.

This week, Texas asked the U.S. Supreme Court for permission to sue Pennsylvania, Michigan, Georgia and Wisconsin, all of which Biden won. Seventeen other states, all with Republican attorneys general and all of which were won by President Trump, told the court they support Paxton’s suit.

“If that’s not enough to get me off the hook, I don’t know what is,” Paxton said. “I mean, Trump’s been handing out, uh, you know what I’m talking about, like they’re Halloween candy and now he’s talking about giving them to his children, and they haven’t even been charged with anything yet, have they? So why not me, right?”