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Texas Attorney General’s Top Deputies Clash Over Witness Tampering and Harassment Claims

A State Bar review of misconduct allegations coincides with escalating lawsuits between current and former deputies

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton looks up at the gallery during the first day of his impeachment trial in the Texas Senate chambers at the Texas State Capitol in Austin on Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2023. The Texas House, including a majority of its GOP members, voted to impeach Paxton for alleged corruption in May.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks about impending impeachment proceedings against him at a press conference in Austin on May 26, 2023. Behind Paxton from left: Tommy Tran, executive assistant; James R. Lloyd, associate deputy attorney general for civil litigation; Austin A. Kinghorn, associate deputy attorney general for legal counsel; Ryan Fisher, director of government relations; Joshua Reno, deputy attorne…
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Overview

  • Former Solicitor General Judd Stone and ex-litigation chief Chris Hilton filed a lawsuit and bar complaint accusing First Assistant Attorney General Brent Webster of pressuring impeachment witnesses to flee Texas and obstructing justice in 2023.
  • Stone and Hilton claim Webster threatened to fire employees who refused to support Ken Paxton during his impeachment trial and leveraged his office to discredit them.
  • Webster’s faction denies the allegations, asserts there is no criminal case against him and argues he exposed false claims in a sexual harassment suit brought by former aide Jordan Eskew.
  • Eskew’s 2025 lawsuit alleges Stone made sexually charged comments and created a hostile work environment, accusations that Stone and Hilton have called fabricated for political ends.
  • The State Bar of Texas has 30 days to decide whether to open a formal investigation into Webster’s conduct, extending the internal conflict into Paxton’s Senate campaign.