Good morning, 

Here is the Texas Minute for Thursday, September 7, 2023.

– Brandon Waltens 

Former Paxton Deputy Accused of Staging a Coup

• Testimony offered in the Senate’s impeachment trial of Attorney General Ken Paxton raises questions about who has been behind the movement to oust him from office, with a former top deputy accused of staging a coup.
   

• Yesterday marked the second day of the trial and picked up where yesterday’s proceedings stopped, with the prosecution’s first witness Jeff Mateer.
   

• Mateer, who is currently the Chief Legal Officer at First Liberty Institute, formerly served as the First Assistant Attorney General under Paxton.
   

• He resigned from the position in October of 2020 after he, along with seven members of the AG’s office, accused Paxton of engaging in unethical acts and abuse of office in order to help real estate developer Nate Paul.
   

• Little new information was brought up during Mateer’s initial testimony, as he repeated much of what had been alleged three years ago. Bigger revelations came when Paxton’s attorney Tony Buzbee had the opportunity to cross examine Mateer.
   

• Mateer claimed he regularly deleted his text messages, and thus did not have any of his messages from the time. He said that he didn’t ask Paxton when he had questions about some of the actions the special counsel had taken and instead went to the FBI.
   

• After speaking with the FBI, Mateer then admitted that he went to a meeting with staff from Gov. Greg Abbott’s office.  In attendance was Luis Saenz, Abbott’s former chief of staff.
   

• He also admitted that he had been in contact with Dick Trabulsi when he resigned. Trabulsi is one of the leaders of Texans for Lawsuit Reform, a group that has been opposed to Paxton and has been suspected to have worked behind the scenes pushing the impeachment forward. Recently, they urged senators not to vote to dismiss the charges.
   

• Additionally, Buzbee revealed that Mateer and other employees had sent correspondence from the Office of the Attorney General on which they had removed Paxton’s name from the letterhead.
   

• “You were involved in staging a coup, weren’t you?” Buzbee asked, pointing to Mateer’s meeting with the governor’s office, communication with Texans for Lawsuit Reform, and the removal of Paxton’s name from the letterhead. Mateer denied that was the case.
   

• The trial continues today at 9 a.m. You can watch the stream on the Texas Scorecard Apple TV and Roku apps.

Data Shows High Withdrawal Rates from Government Schools

• As parents continue discovering concerns of safety and indoctrination in Texas’ government schools, data from the Texas Education Agency shows that a trend towards homeschooling noticed during the COVID era is continuing. Sydnie Henry has the details. 
   

• The Texas Home School Coalition submitted an open records request for data from the Texas Education Agency regarding the number of withdrawals from government schools to homeschools.
   

• In the 2021-2022 school year, there were 29,785 withdrawals for students in grades 7-12. This number indicates the record highs of withdrawals during the COVID-19 era are continuing, as the 2020-2021 school year saw 29,845 students in grades 7-12 leave government schools.
   

• "People thought the homeschool numbers would go back down after Covid. They haven’t because the problems that have driven the growth of homeschooling predate Covid. Covid just revealed them.” –Jeremy Newman, Vice President of Policy and Engagement THSC

City of Austin: Don't Call 911

• Officials in the capital city told robbery victims to forego calling emergency services and instead, call a number often used to report graffiti and potholes.
   

• Katy Marshall reports the Austin Police Department posted a graphic on social media this week asking, “Did you get robbed on your way back from a bank or ATM?"
   

• In response to their question, the post featured three bullet points with instructions for victims, including telling them to call 311—a non-emergency city hotline—instead of 911.
   

• Four days after posting the graphic, the Austin Police Department replied to their original message stating, “CLARIFICATION: When a robbery occurs, callers should be reporting these crimes to 9-1-1.”
   

• After the 2020 riots, the APD budget was defunded by $150 million—roughly a third of its total budget—under the Democrat-run City Council. More than 800 officers have left the APD in the last six years.

Dade Phelan Censured Again

• House Speaker Dade Phelan has been censured by another county Republican Party.
   

• Emily Medeiros reports the Liberty County GOP unanimously censured Phelan for violating the principles of the Republican Party. The resolution specifically cited his appointment of Democrats to leadership positions in direct contradiction to the legislative priorities of the party.
   

• Additionally, the censure resolution condemns Phelan for allowing an important border security measure— House Bill 20—to die. Although Phelan had said the legislation was a priority, he upheld a point of order from a Democrat representative, letting it die on the House floor without a vote. HB 20 would have created a state-controlled Border Protection Unit to arrest, apprehend, or detain illegal aliens crossing the Texas-Mexico border.
   

• The Republican Party of Orange County and the Ellis County GOP have also censured Phelan, citing similar grievances.

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