Trump's Senate pick Ken Paxton caught on video partying in Dubai with fraud fugitives and his girlfriend as scandal-plagued campaign faces fresh bombshell

Read the original at Daily Mail ↗
Daily Mail · collected 2026-10-13 · by Samantha Loren

Quick Summary

Ken Paxton, Trump's Senate pick, celebrated New Year's Eve 2024 in Dubai with two American businessmen who were indicted for healthcare fraud months earlier. Among the guests was his girlfriend Tracy Duhon. The Wall Street Journal reported that Anosh Ahmed and Sameer Suhail, who had fled the U.S., were present at a luxury gathering alongside Paxton. Campaign finance records show Ahmed donated $190,000 to Paxton's political operation, including a significant donation days after his indictment.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-13, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Ken Paxton, the Republican Senate candidate for Texas, celebrated New Year's Eve 2024 in Dubai with his girlfriend Tracy Duhon and two American businessmen who were indicted on federal healthcare fraud charges. The Wall Street Journal reported that video footage shows Paxton watching fireworks over the Burj Khalifa alongside Anosh Ahmed and Sameer Suhail, both of whom had not returned to the United States to face charges at the time. Ahmed and Suhail are now back in the U.S., with Ahmed currently in custody, facing an alleged $15 million embezzlement scheme involving Loretto Hospital in Chicago where he previously worked as COO. The scandal adds another layer of controversy to Paxton’s campaign, which is already under scrutiny over his expensive travel and property empire, with security costs for trips amounting to $3.3 million since 2015.

Written for “Ken Paxton Dubai Party Scandal” on 2026-10-13, grounded in this article and the 1 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
The model judged this article politically coded and scored it +0.35, but all 2 of its quote(s) are attributed speech - words the article quotes from someone, not the article's own narration, so the score is not published.
Written under an earlier scoring contract, which gave a paragraph rather than checkable quotes. Re-analysing this article replaces it.
Leaning score withheld for article 76783: attributed speech only · logged 2026-10-13

Story

📰 Ken Paxton Dubai Party Scandal
Politics · 2 article(s) covering the same event. See how they differ ↓

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 10% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
The Independent
⚖️ Leans left 🔴 26% hedged 6 of 23 📰 publisher trust 59
“Both articles describe Ken Paxton celebrating New Year's Eve 2024 in Dubai with his girlfriend/mistress and two indicted businessmen, based on footage obtained by The Wall Street Journal.”
New York Post
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 4% hedged 1 of 23 📰 publisher trust 67
“The articles describe different events involving separate political figures and activities.”

Cite this article

Loren, S. (2026, October 13). Trump's Senate pick Ken Paxton caught on video partying in Dubai with fraud fugitives and his girlfriend as scandal-plagued campaign faces fresh bombshell. Daily Mail. https://www.dailymail.com/news/us-politics/article-16205587/Trumps-Senate-pick-Ken-Paxton-caught-video-partying-Dubai-fraud-fugitives-girlfriend-scandal-plagued-campaign-faces-fresh-bombshell.html?ns_mchannel=rss&ns_campaign=1490&ito=1490

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
20
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
10%
2 of 20 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
withheld
no quote in the article backed the model's score
Publisher signals
64/100
Daily Mail's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
2
Politics
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-13 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

Daily Mail · 5283 article(s) · 15 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 15 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Samantha Loren
29 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 A separate investigation published last week found that security for his trips had cost Texas taxpayers $3.3 million since he took office in 2015, while investigators could link only a fraction of that spending to state business.
🔮 However, CNN said it could not independently verify Paxton's account of the restaurant encounter, and Cornyn's representative flatly denied that the conversation took place.
🔮 He is a self-proclaimed 'racist twink' who regularly posts sexual and derogatory content despite running a political firm Collins accused Ossoff of spreading inflammatory claims about his family, never directly denouncing his son-in-law’s online persona 'If John Lewis was marching from Selma to Montgomery, Mike Collins would be grabbing a billy club,' Ossoff said 'I've condemned racism, anti-Semitism, hate.
🔮 The extraordinary burst of criticism began with Trump's broader frustration of Fox's coverage of his rallies before quickly becoming a direct attack on Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed and Nebraska Independent Senate candidate Dan Osborn. The criticism comes just one day after the network announced that his former press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, would be joining as a contributor.
🔮 Vice President JD Vance also brushed aside the significance of the private remarks and said Republicans would continue backing Paxton. Paxton has also been forced to defend his record after the Texas Senate acquitted him of impeachment in 2023, following his historic impeachment by the state House on 16 articles.
🔮 Tillis sent Trump a series of blunt text messages earlier this year, accusing the president of failing and warning him that he would not tolerate what he described as Trump's 'b*******,' according to Politico Playbook.
🔮 He then described grabbing her and slamming her into their front door, while laughing In a since-deleted post, Marx wrote he would be posting the full unedited clip, writing, 'I have been accused of wife abuse and child abuse based on clips being circulated publicly.
🔮 In fact, Santos said he would rather see the 'entire leadership' replaced, floating his ideal candidates for speaker of the house: Florida congresswomen Laurel Lee, or Anna Paulina Luna, who he says has Freedom Caucus backing and would be the first female Republican speaker.
🔮 The event was partly organized by celebrity jeweler Alexis Bittar, one of the political fundraisers who helped propel New York City mayor Zohran Mamdani to victory in 2025.
🔮 - See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred Source New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani has unveiled a new strategy to combat antisemitism just one week after renewing his call for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to be arrested.
Also by Samantha Loren
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 29 articles by Samantha Loren →

Topics

Chicago Dubai Loretto Hospital Republican The Wall Street Journal

Subjects

Paxton PERSON · 8× Ahmed PERSON · 7× Dubai GPE · 4× Anosh Ahmed PERSON · 3× Loretto Hospital ORG · 3× Sameer Suhail PERSON · 3× Talarico ORG · 3× Texas GPE · 3× Ken Paxton PERSON · 2× The Wall Street Journal ORG · 2×

Narrative

Anosh Ahmed, former COO of Loretto Hospital in Chicago, was indicted in federal court in Illinois over an alleged $15 million embezzlement scheme involving Loretto Hospital Ahmed administered the COVID-19 vaccination to Eric Trump at Loretto Hospital in 2021 Sameer Suhail, a former medical company supply executive, was also charged in connection with an alleged $15 million embezzlement scheme Talarico has seized on questions surrounding Paxton's growing property empire and expensive travel, as the Republican faces scrutiny over how he accumulated his wealth while serving as Texas attorney general.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-13
🔮 A separate investigation published last week found that security for his trips had cost Texas taxpayers $3.3 million since he took office in 2015, while investigators could link only a fraction of that spending to state business.

Claims (20 extracted, 2 hedged)

- Sign up HERE to our DC Insider newsletter - your guide to what's rocking Washington, rattling the White House and setting tongues wagging on the Hill Scandal-clad Ken Paxton celebrated New Year's Eve in Dubai with two American businessmen who were indicted on federal healthcare fraud charges. The Wall Street Journal reported the Republican Senate candidate was filmed watching fireworks over the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa, on December 31, 2024, alongside his girlfriend, Tracy Duhon, at a luxury high-rise gathering. asserted
candidate → sign → gathering
Among the guests were businessmen Anosh Ahmed and Sameer Suhail, who had been indicted months earlier over an alleged healthcare fraud scheme and had not returned to the United States to face the charges at the time of the gathering. asserted
who → indict → gathering
The pair are now back in the US to answer the allegations against them, with Ahmed currently in custody. asserted
Ahmed → answer → custody
Ahmed's legal team has said he was overseas when the first indictment was handed down in 2024 and that family health problems delayed his return. asserted
problems → say → return
Suhail's lawyer, Adam Sheppard, has offered a separate explanation, saying civil disputes in Dubai prevented his client from travelling until they were settled. asserted
they → offer → client
He said Suhail then returned voluntarily. asserted
Suhail → say → ?
Paxton was filmed ringing in 2025 at a lavish Dubai gathering on December 31, 2024, among businessmen Anosh Ahmed and Sameer Suhail, who had been indicted in the US months earlier over alleged healthcare fraud Paxton's girlfriend Tracy Duhon was among the New Year's Eve guests in Dubai The charges against the men date back to an alleged $15 million scheme involving a Chicago hospital where Ahmed once served as chief financial officer. asserted
Ahmed → film → officer
Both were indicted in federal court in Illinois over the alleged embezzlement. asserted
Both → indict → embezzlement
Ahmed later faced further charges in a separate case involving at least $195 million in alleged government payments for fraudulent COVID-19 tests. asserted
Ahmed → face → tests
He has pleaded not guilty to those charges. asserted
He → plead → charges
The report also raises questions about campaign donations from Ahmed, who contributed $190,000 to Paxton's political operation. asserted
who → raise → operation
That included a $25,000 donation made just days after Ahmed was indicted, according to campaign finance records cited by the Journal. uncertain
Ahmed → include → Journal
'Like President Trump, Ken Paxton has been politically persecuted for years, and every time, voters have seen through it and sent him back to office because they know he has always fought for Texas,' Paxton senior adviser Nick Maddux told the Wall Street Journal. asserted
Maddux → persecute → Journal
Anosh Ahmed, former COO of Loretto Hospital in Chicago, was indicted in federal court in Illinois over an alleged $15 million embezzlement scheme involving Loretto Hospital Ahmed administered the COVID-19 vaccination to Eric Trump at Loretto Hospital in 2021 Sameer Suhail, a former medical company supply executive, was also charged in connection with an alleged $15 million embezzlement scheme Talarico has seized on questions surrounding Paxton's growing property empire and expensive travel, as the Republican faces scrutiny over how he accumulated his wealth while serving as Texas attorney general. asserted
he → indict → general
Paxton has also faced questions over his frequent travel. asserted
Paxton → face → travel
A separate investigation published last week found that security for his trips had cost Texas taxpayers $3.3 million since he took office in 2015, while investigators could link only a fraction of that spending to state business. uncertain
investigators → publish → business
Among the trips highlighted in earlier reporting was a visit to Augusta, Georgia, during the Masters golf tournament that cost taxpayers at least $25,000 in security expenses. asserted
that → highlight → expenses
The latest RealClearPolling average puts Talarico at 48.1 percent and Paxton at 45.3 percent, a lead of 2.8 points over Talarico. asserted
average → put → Talarico
Republicans have poured money into the race in an effort to close the gap. asserted
Republicans → pour → gap
GOP groups spent $122 million supporting Paxton in September alone, with another $66 million in advertising reserved through Election Day. asserted
groups → spend → Day
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