Paxton Witness Who Ducked Impeachment Trial Subpoenaed by Feds

A key witness who refused to testify at Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial last month has been subpoenaed to testify before a federal grand jury, a person familiar with the secretive court proceeding said.

Kevin Wood, a contractor who worked on a remodel at Paxton’s home in 2020, is scheduled to appear in a federal courtroom in Texas in mid-October, the person said.

Wood’s grand jury summons is significant in that it signals federal authorities, who opened a bribery investigation into Paxton three years ago, are not backing off even after the attorney general was acquitted by the Republican-led Texas Senate on all 16 counts in his impeachment trial.

Paxton, who returned to office after a near-four month suspension, still faces multiple legal matters, including an unrelated felony indictment for securities fraud that has been lingering in state court for eight years.

A Department of Justice spokesperson didn’t respond to a request for confirmation on the grand jury presentation. Multiple news outlets reported this summer that federal prosecutors had seated a grand jury in San Antonio to review evidence against Paxton.

Paxton, a three-term Republican, stands accused by former deputies in the attorney general’s office of bribery and abuse of power in his relationship with a now-indicted Austin real estate developer named Nate Paul.

At the impeachment trial, which lasted two weeks and ended on Sept. 16, former deputies testified that Paxton went beyond his normal job duties to intervene in legal matters involving Paul, a campaign donor. Those actions included mounting a counterattack against FBI agents and other law enforcement officials who raided Paul’s home and business in 2019. Paul was indicted on eight counts of federal mortgage fraud this summer.

At the grand jury presentation, prosecutors are likely to ask Wood about a remodel at an Austin home Paxton shares with his wife, Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton. At the impeachment trial, prosecutors presented evidence that they said shows Paul had arranged to fund the renovation. That evidence included testimony from a man who handled Paxton’s work schedule who said he overheard a phone conversation during a visit to the home in which a contractor said he’d have to check with “Nate” before proceeding with an unplanned upgrade.

The plan for Paul to pay for the remodel unraveled when Paxton’s former aides made a complaint against Paxton to the FBI in 2020, prosecutors said. On or around the day of the complaint, financial records presented at trial showed Paxton wired around $120,000 to a contractor associated with Paul and his real estate company. Text messages show contractors kept Paul apprised on the remodel.

Wood, a subcontractor, didn’t testify at the impeachment trial. Houston lawyer Rusty Hardin, who led the House prosecution team, said that Wood or his lawyer refused to accept a subpoena, and that the lawyer informed prosecutors that Wood, if he were to take the witness stand, was prepared to invoke his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.

“I think Kevin Wood can definitely provide very helpful information to anybody who is investigating Paxton,” Hardin said Thursday.

It’s not clear how much Wood’s testimony would bolster the federal case. The federal handbook on grand jury investigations says witnesses can invoke the Fifth Amendment, but the jurors can seek to compel certain answers.

Wood’s lawyer, Ken Ervin, declined to comment. House prosecutors admitted as evidence a letter to them from Ervin that said Wood was never paid for the work he performed on Paxton’s home.

Paxton’s lawyer, Dan Cogdell, declined to comment on Wood’s grand jury subpoena.