Brent Webster

Following the sudden resignation of Jeff Mateer as First Assistant Attorney General of Texas in October 2020, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton appointed Webster to the Office of Attorney General's second-in-command position.[5] Mateer resigned after becoming one of eight attorneys in the Office of the Attorney General to report Paxton to law enforcement, accusing him of abuse of power and accepting bribes; the complaint triggered an FBI investigation.[4] Mateer and the others raised concerns over Paxton's personal involvement in a federal case against real estate developer and Paxton campaign donor Nate Paul.[6] Paxton fired the other whistleblowers and replaced them with new senior staff, including Webster.[4]

As Paxton's top deputy, Webster was involved in many of Paxton's legal challenges.[1] His annual salary of $275,000 made him the highest-paid employee of the AG's office, with pay higher than the elected attorney general.[1][4]

In late 2020, Webster took part in Paxton's effort to try to overturn the results of the November 2020 presidential election, in which Joe Biden defeated Donald Trump.[4][7] In December 2020, Webster filed a case on behalf of the state (Texas v. Pennsylvania) that sought to overturn the election results in four states won by Biden, thus overturning Trump's election loss and keeping him in power.[7][4] Texas's complaint contained many debunked claims of voter fraud that had already been rejected by many other courts.[4]

The State Bar of Texas subsequently investigated and brought a disciplinary case against Webster.[7][8] In January 2022, the Commission for Lawyer Discipline held a hearing, at which Webster refused to appear.[8] In May 2022, following its investigation, the Commission determined that Webster violated the state's Rules of Professional Conduct for attorneys "by engaging in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation";[7] and identified six key misrepresentations that Webster had made in the Texas v. Pennsylvania filings before the Supreme Court.[8]

After the Commission made adverse findings against him, Webster chose to file an appeal in court rather accept sanctions proposed by the panel.[8] In September 2022, Judge John Youngblood, a Milam County judge assigned to the case in Williamson County court, dismissed the case against Webster, ruling that "the separation-of-powers doctrine deprives this Court of subject-matter jurisdiction" because the State Bar (part of the judicial branch) would sanction the attorney general's office (part of the executive branch).[7][9] Youngblood's ruling was reversed by the Texas Eighth Court of Appeals in El Paso, which ruled in June 2022 that lawyers for the state are not immune from the rules of professional conduct governing lawyers.[8] The court wrote that "Immunizing Webster from professional-misconduct proceedings in no way furthers the rationale for sovereign immunity" and that Webster's argument, if accepted, would make the public "powerless to deter misconduct."[8]

Webster began performing the duties of state attorney general after the Texas House of Representatives impeached Paxton on May 27, 2023, automatically suspending Paxton from exercising the powers of the office pending his trial in the Texas Senate.[10][lower-alpha 1]

On May 31, Governor Greg Abbott appointed lawyer and lobbyist John B. Scott as interim attorney general for the remainder of Paxton's suspension. Scott was Texas Secretary of State from October 2021 to December 2022, and briefly was an attorney for former President Trump.[10]