The mass exodus of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's top staff over accusations of bribery against their former boss has left Paxton seeking $43 million in public funds to replace some of them with outside lawyers to lead a high-profile antitrust lawsuit against Google.
Former Paxton aides told The Associated Press that before they reported him to the FBI in September and began resigning, the lawsuit against the search engine giant was set to be handled internally by what is one of the largest state attorney general's offices in the U.S.
The outside lawyers' contracts put a price tag on the fallout from Paxton's deputies accusing him of crimes in the service of wealthy donor Nate Paul. an Austin real estate investor. It remains to be seen how much taxpayers may ultimately shell out under the complex deals.
