The scene is the towering Burj Khalifa skyscraper in Dubai where fireworks are bursting overhead to celebrate the 2025 New Year.
asserted
fireworks → burst → Year
Watching the festivities from a luxury high rise balcony in the world's tallest structure is a small but select crowd that includes Texas attorney general Ken Paxton and his girlfriend, Christian influencer Tracy Duhon.
asserted
that → watch → Paxton
They had been indicted only months earlier on federal charges of healthcare fraud but failed to return to the US.
asserted
They → indict → US
According to campaign finance records uncovered by the Wall Street Journal, which this week broke the story of the New Year get-together, Ahmed, a healthcare executive, had donated $190,000 to Paxton, including $25,000 days after he was indicted.
uncertain
he → accord → 25,000
The men appeared in a Chicago court after the Journal's story was published and pleaded not guilty.
asserted
story → appear → court
One might have assumed that any state attorney general who was soon to stand for even higher office might try to avoid such dubious associations but Paxton, say his critics, is not the sort of man to let propriety get in the way of a damn good party.
uncertain
propriety → assume → party
Everything's bigger in Texas, they say, and that appears to include political scandals.
asserted
that → say → scandals
In fact, if you stacked up the scandals – some dating back decades – that have swirled around Paxton as he campaigns to become a US Senator in next month's midterms, they might even reach to the top of the Burj Khalifa.
uncertain
they → stack → Khalifa
'A party with multiple fugitives and Ken Paxton is still the sketchiest guy in the room,' mocked his Democrat rival James Talarico on X, reposting a video of Paxton at the New Year party.
asserted
Paxton → mock → party
Paxton was caught on video partying in Dubai with fugitives.
asserted
Paxton → catch → fugitives
two American businessmen who were indicted on federal healthcare fraud charges.
asserted
who → indict → charges
A spokesman responded to his attendance at the party, saying: '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.'
It's certainly true that Texans, for whatever reasons, have chosen to overlook much about their state attorney general and the man his opponents dub 'Crooked Ken.'
How Paxton is still running as the Republican candidate for the US Senate – in a very close race with Talarico – when surely anyone else would have slunk off into the political wilderness months ago is a mystery.
asserted
anyone → respond → wilderness
Maybe, say some of his supporters, it has something to do with another oft repeated cliché about Texans – that the heirs to the defenders of the Alamo don't like to be pushed around.
asserted
heirs → say → Alamo
The 63-year-old lawyer and staunch Christian conservative politician certainly seems to be relying on voters ignoring his army of detractors and instead following the advice of President Donald Trump who endorsed Paxton in his runoff race against the Republican Senator John Cornyn, hailing him as 'someone who has always been extremely loyal to me and our AMAZING MAGA MOVEMENT.'
asserted
who → seem → me
The president observed that 'Ken Paxton has gone through a lot, in many cases, very unfairly, but he is a Fighter, and knows how to WIN.'
asserted
he → observe → cases
He's certainly been through a lot but how much of it was 'very unfair' is a matter for the courts to decide rather than a president desperate to stop Texas finally turning blue and, perhaps more important, how his stamp of approval on a political candidate can still carry him over the line.
asserted
stamp → decide → line
Although he has consistently denied wrongdoing, opponents say Paxton is utterly corrupt, shamelessly hypocritical and one of the worst examples of Trump prizing loyalty above all else in his political patronage.
asserted
Trump → deny → patronage
Paxton isn't so unprincipled, however, that he'll wear a Stetson to ingratiate himself with voters – perhaps because he isn't a born-and-bred Texan.
asserted
he → wear → voters
Born in North Dakota where his father was stationed while serving as a pilot in the US Air Force, he spent most of his early years in Oklahoma before moving to Texas for college.
asserted
he → bear → college
His permanently half-closed right eye gives him a somewhat villainous look, which his detractors would say is well-deserved but is the consequence of a childhood accident while playing a game of hide-and-seek.
asserted
detractors → close → hide
President Donald Trump endorsed Paxton in his runoff race against the Republican Senator John Cornyn
How Paxton is still running as the Republican candidate for the US Senate in a very close race with James Talarico is a mystery
Paxton married Angela Allen, whom he met while they were studying at Texas's Baylor University, in 1986 and they had four children together, living near the Dallas law firm where he went to work after college.
asserted
he → endorse → college
The self-proclaimed devout Christian and his wife helped found an evangelical church in Frisco, Texas, in the 1990s and, as a state senator herself from 2019, she would prove crucial in connecting him with Christian nationalist leaders.
asserted
she → proclaim → leaders
She would become one of his most fervent cheerleaders when he ran for public office, telling crowds they had a 'sacred covenant' and 'I'm a pistol-packing mama, and my husband sues Obama.'
Paxton's political career began in 2002 when, aged 40, he won a seat in the Texas House of Representatives, becoming a state senator ten years later.
asserted
he → become → Representatives
He became the state's attorney general in 2015, riding into office on the back of the Tea Party movement, after the previous incumbent, Greg Abbott, became governor.
asserted
incumbent → become → movement
Within months of starting the job, Paxton was indicted on securities fraud and other charges over an alleged scheme to mislead investors.
asserted
Paxton → start → investors
It was claimed he solicited investors for a tech company, Servergy, without revealing he was being paid commission.
asserted
he → claim → commission
(Paxton denied the charges and, after the trial was delayed repeatedly, he agreed in 2024 to a plea deal which saw him paying nearly $300,000 in restitution, performing 100 hours of community service and taking 15 hours of legal ethics courses – but not making any admission of guilt.
asserted
him → deny → guilt
He also faced other inquiries, state and federal, including one for bribery over claims he accepted $100,000 from a former client under investigation by his office.
uncertain
he → face → office
The case was closed with no finding of wrongdoing – indeed Paxton has always denied any.
asserted
Paxton → close → any
Paxton married Angela Allen, whom he met while they were studying at Texas's Baylor University, in 1986.
asserted
they → marry → 1986
She filed for divorce in 2025, and it has yet to be resolved
asserted
it → file → 2025
Paxton's political career began in 2003 when he won a seat in the Texas House of Representatives, becoming a state senator ten years later
Critics also questioned the source of his wealth: before he first ran for public office in 2002, his only assets were worth less than $175,000, according to a state disclosure.
uncertain
assets → begin → disclosure
By 2018, he reportedly told a lender he was worth some $5.5 million and this didn't include millions of dollars in assets he and his wife had moved into a blind trust.
uncertain
he → tell → trust
According to the Wall Street Journal, they now own at least a dozen residential properties.
uncertain
they → accord → properties
His Democrat opponents have also highlighted Paxton's extensive globe-hopping while he is attorney general.
asserted
he → highlight → hopping
Between 2022 and 2025, Paxton – accompanied by bodyguards paid for by the state – went on 19 foreign trips to countries including Greece, Italy, South Africa and Mexico, according to records cited by the Wall Street Journal.
uncertain
Paxton → accompany → Journal
In office, Paxton has always been a staunch ally of Trump, rushing to his aid when the latter tried to overturn the result of the 2020 presidential election.
asserted
latter → rush → election
Paxton filed the Texas v Pennsylvania case in the Supreme Court, which attempted unsuccessfully to contest the election result in four states where Joe Biden won.
asserted
Biden → file → states
During the Biden presidency, Paxton sued the administration 106 times.
asserted
Paxton → sue → administration
He pushed for stricter border controls and headed an alliance of 16 states to foil a Democrat attempt to provide citizenship for the undocumented spouses of US citizens.
asserted
He → push → citizens
…and 36 more, not listed.
The Aporia
