'Travesty of justice': Texas AG Ken Paxton visits Trump during hush-money trial in NYC

John C. Moritz, USA TODAY NETWORK

April 30, 2024 at 4:55 p.m.·2 min read

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton attended former President Donald Trump's hush-money trial in New York on Tuesday in a show of support for his longtime ally.

"With President Trump in NYC to sit through this sham of a trial," Paxton, a three-term Republican, said in post on his personal X, formerly Twitter, account. "This trial is a travesty of justice. I stand with Trump."

More: Trump trial live updates: Judge rules Trump violated gag order 9 times

Last year, Trump took credit for Paxton's acquittal in the Texas Senate impeachment trial that could have booted him from office. In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump called Paxton "a great A.G." and condemned the impeachment by the Republican-led Texas House as an "injustice."

"Yes, it is true that my intervention through TRUTH SOCIAL saved Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton from going down at the hands of Democrats and some Republicans," Trump posted two days after all but two of the Republican senators voted to acquit Paxton of a list of impeachment charges that included taking bribes and using his office to help a political benefactor.

This is not the first time Paxton has left Texas to support Trump in politically trying times. The attorney general spoke on Trump's behalf in Washington on Jan. 6, 2021, in the failed attempt to stop the U.S. Senate from certifying the election of Joe Biden which ousted Trump from the White House. Paxton did not participate in the violent uprising at the Capitol later in the day.

The former president, who has amassed the needed delegates to secure the Republican presidential nomination for a rematch against Biden in November, has been charged with 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. Prosecutors say Trump falsely labeled the purpose of checks to Michael Cohen, his former attorney, to cover up a conspiracy to interfere with the 2016 election.

Prosecutors also say a $130,000 hush money payment from Cohen to Stormy Daniels, a former adult film star, was authorized by Trump and violated federal campaign finance laws. Daniels has claimed she and Trump had sex in 2006.

Among the highlights of Tuesday's courtroom action was Judge Juan Merchan's ruling that Trump had committed nine violations of the judge's gag order, resulting in the former president being fined $9,000.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas AG Ken Paxton calls Trump's NYC hush-money trial a 'sham'

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