Texas Supreme Court Justice John Devine, who rules on election disputes: “Do you really think the Democrats are gonna roll over and let Trump be president again? You think they’re just gonna go away, all of a sudden find Jesus and be an honest election?” As I covered earlier this year, Devine – a former anti-abortion activist who calls church-state separation a "myth" – has a history of publicly blasting people/issues that could one day be before the court, raising questions about his impartiality.

https://x.com/RobertDownen_/status/1762479510803353768?s=20

I missed most of the Department of Justice/Southern Baptist drama. But I saw quite a few people - including those who've vocally opposed abuse reforms - celebrating. Let's talk about that: To be clear: I am not weighing in on the validity or strength of the DOJ's hypothetical case, or whether the SBC did/didn't break laws. I am just spotlighting one type of response, and way some folks selectively apply standards of proof to fit their own views.

🧵🧵Super Tuesday in Texas will be a bellwether for the Texas GOP's ongoing civil war over school vouchers, the Paxton impeachment and, to lesser degrees, white supremacists and sex abuse scandals. Let me explain: Ahead of election day, deep-pocketed groups and lawmakers have poured in millions amid fights over school vouchers, the Paxton impeachment and the broader future of the Texas GOP.
texastribune.org/2024/02/27/gre…

🧵🧵In leaked audio, Texas Supreme Court Justice John Devine says his all-GOP colleagues are "brainwashed" and "would sacrifice the Republic for the sake of the (legal) process."

More on his comments + 30-year rise from anti-abortion activist to jurist:
texastribune.org/2024/02/27/joh… Devine also blasted his colleagues' ruling in the Jeff Younger case; said the all-GOP Court of Criminal Appeals is filled with "RINOs" and "trans-Republicans"; and accused Harris County Democrats of trying to use "dirty tricks" to steal elections. #txlege
texastribune.org/2024/02/27/joh…

🧵🧵A 2017 email accused Southern Baptist leader Paul Pressler of being a pedophile – and sheds new light on the role that Jared Woodfill, who is running for Texas House with Ken Paxton's backing, played in providing Pressler access to potential victims.
texastribune.org/2024/01/23/jar… In the email, Pressler's then-aide wrote to the Pressler family, warning that he was a racist sexual predator who bragged about being naked w/ boys. The aide also wrote that he'd seen Pressler "manipulate" a nearly-homeless young man into a nude massage.
texastribune.org/2024/01/23/jar…

In 2021, longtime Southern Baptist Convention attorney Jim Guenther wrote that he and others feared discovery in the Paul Pressler lawsuit would produce "a lot of evidence" that Pressler had sexually abused Duane Rollins "for many years." Jim Guenther represented the SBC from 1966 until 2021, when he resigned in protest of a third-party investigation into the SBC's handling of sex abuse claims. The report later found that he played a key role in downplaying or ignoring warnings of a crisis. houstonchronicle.com/news/investiga…

Nazis in Houston. houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t… Certainly looks like Ronald from Goyim Defense League, which has been very active in Houston and Texas.

#BREAKING The Southern Baptist Convention and others have settled a high-profile sexual assault lawsuit against former leader + Texas judge Paul Pressler, ending a six-year legal drama that prompted a reckoning over child sex abuse in evangelical churches.
texastribune.org/2023/12/29/sou… The suit, which claimed that Pressler's behavior was concealed by other Southern Baptist figures/churches, was the impetus for a 2019 investigation into sexual abuse in the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's second-largest faith group. #SBCtoo
houstonchronicle.com/news/investiga…

NEW: We've confirmed that Chris Russo – who leads the influential group Texans For Strong Borders – is also a prominent figure in Nick Fuentes' white supremacist movement. Russo ran multiple anonymous accounts filled with hate speech and slurs. #txlege
texastribune.org/2023/10/25/chr… Earlier today, @noturtlesoup17 first identified Russo as the person behind the "Optics Respecter" account via audio of him talking with Nick Fuentes. You can listen here:
turtlediaries.net/p/groypers-in-…

🧵🧵Adolf Hitler admirer Nick Fuentes was the best-known –– but hardly the only –– extremist embraced by Defend Texas Liberty, a major donor to Ken Paxton, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and others. Nor was he even the first this month. #txlege
texastribune.org/2023/10/23/def… In the wake of our reporting on the Fuentes meeting, some of Defend Texas Liberty's beneficiaries –– including Patrick –– have downplayed the ordeal as a "blunder" and, resisting calls to return DTL's money, said it had no other ties to antisemitism. texastribune.org/2023/10/11/jar…

NEW: The leader of a group that's given millions of dollars to AG Ken Paxton and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick hosted white supremacist Nick Fuentes on Friday. Also there: Kyle Rittenhouse + Texas GOP Chair Matt Rinaldi, who denied meeting Fuentes.

STORY: texastribune.org/2023/10/08/nic…


Fuentes spent about 6.5 hours at Pale Horse Strategies, a consulting firm owned by Jonathan Stickland. Stickland also leads Defend Texas Liberty, which is funded by West Texas oil billionaires who are by far Ken Paxton's biggest donors. texastribune.org/2023/07/24/ken…

NEW: White supremacist Nick Fuentes spent Friday at a company owned by Jonathan Stickland, who leads a major PAC that’s funded by West Texas billionaires and has donated millions of dollars to top Republicans. Kyle Rittenhouse was there. So were we.
texastribune.org/2023/10/08/nic… Stickland is the leader of Defend Texas Liberty PAC, which recently made news after giving Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick $3 million ahead of Ken Paxton's impeachment trial, over which Patrick presided. texastribune.org/2023/07/18/ken…

🧵🧵GOOD MORNING from Austin, where week 2 of the Ken Paxton trial begins shortly. As always, follow the @texastribune liveblog for rolling updates throughout the day. I’ll also be tweeting details below. #PaxtonTrial texastribune.org/2023/09/11/ken… ICYMI: Here is a good overview of the first week of arguments, strategy and testimony via @chucklindell

texastribune.org/2023/09/09/ken…

Here is a photo of True Texas Project’s main financier, West Texas oil billionaire Tim Dunn, speaking to a group of influencers at an event sponsored by a company that pays influencers to defend Ken Paxton. x.com/robertdownen_/…

https://twitter.com/truetxproject/status/1700922070136238228

Another Tim Dunn-funded group? Defend Texas Liberty PAC. Days before Ken Paxton was impeached in May, Defend Texas Liberty gave $18K to “Influencable.”

With days, influencers were flooding social media with pro-Paxton talking points.

https://twitter.com/robertdownen_/status/1691056604517482498

Veteran AG law enforcement official David Maxwell testifies that he looked into Nate Paul's "conspiracy theories" and found them "ludicrous" with "absolutely no merit."

"I told [Ken Paxton] that Nate Paul was a criminal, that he was running a Ponzi scheme." #PaxtonTrial Maxwell: I told Ken Paxton that Nate Paul's Ponzi Scheme would "rival Billie Sol Estes," the infamous Texas conman who was convicted of stealing millions of dollars from a federal crop subsidy program in the 1960s. #PaxtonTrial

AMAZING: @russellgold got Influenceable, the right-wing "network of digital activists" that I wrote about last month, to pay him $100 to Tweet @TexasMonthly articles re: Ken Paxton.

The payments came from former Trump campaign chair Brad Parscale's wife.
texasmonthly.com/news-politics/…
@russellgold @TexasMonthly Here's what @TexasTribune wrote last month about Influenceable, and its ties to far-right West Texas oil tycoon/Paxton megadonor Ken Paxton. The company has been key in promoting Sound of Freedom + anti-impeachment talking points.

https://twitter.com/RobertDownen_/status/1691056582560202752?s=20

#BREAKING House impeachment managers have released 4,000 pages of exhibits that "provide granular detail of how Ken Paxton allegedly abused his office."

We will update this story throughout the day + I will Tweet occasional details below:
texastribune.org/2023/08/18/ken… Per @zachdespart - who stayed up all night reading - the new documents include lengthy interviews, including with Paxton's personal aide who said he "ferried documents" + records from the secret Uber Paxton/Nate Paul shared, among much more. @TexasTribune
texastribune.org/2023/08/18/ken…

🧵🧵 A new company is secretly recruiting Gen Z influencers to defend Ken Paxton and promote a QAnon-adjacent movie. Meet Influenceable, a "network of digital activists" with ties to a far-right Texas billionaires and Trump's 2020 campaign chair:
texastribune.org/2023/08/14/inf… Influenceable promises to "leverage" influencers "credibility" for clients. Its tied closely to other right-wing social media accounts like Today Is America (250K Insta followers) and Republican Hype House, which had 1.2M TikTok followers before its ban.
texastribune.org/2023/08/14/inf…

🧵🧵Today Southern Baptists will choose between two presidential candidates with drastically different views on the SBC's sexual abuse crisis, among other things. But it actually goes much deeper than that. Allow me to explain: #SBC23 Two notes:

1) SBC presidents have very restrained power - they're not popes. But they are a good gauge of how Southern Baptists are thinking about themselves/the future. #SBC23

2) SBC presidents are elected annually, but almost always go unchallenged for their second/final term

‼️‼️‼️ Rep. Charlie Geren, a member of the House investigative committee, just said Ken Paxton called "several" Texas House members and threatened them if they voted for his impeachment. #Txlege

Live updates here: texastribune.org/2023/05/27/tex… GEREN: “I would like to point out that several members of this House, while on the floor of this House, doing the state business received telephone calls from general Paxton personally, threatening them with political consequences in their next election." #txlege

GOOD MORNING FROM AUSTIN, where the Texas House will vote at 1PM today on whether to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton. Here's a 🧵🧵of things to know ahead of the historic event, via the @TexasTribune staff. #txlege Here is the live blog that we will be updating throughout the day, as lawmakers in the Texas House debate Paxton's alleged misconduct. Both Dems and Republicans have put out calls for supporters to show up at the Capitol. #txlege
texastribune.org/2023/05/27/tex…