Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Faces Scrutiny Over Extensive Taxpayer-Funded Travel Unrelated to Official Business

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, a prominent Republican now setting his sights on a U.S. Senate bid, has come under intense scrutiny for his extensive use of a state-funded security detail on hundreds of trips, a significant majority of which lacked any documented official business purpose. An exhaustive investigation by ProPublica and The Texas Tribune reveals that since taking office in 2015, Paxton has undertaken nearly 1,000 trips accompanied by state police, incurring a staggering cost of $3.3 million to taxpayers. Alarmingly, only 138 of these trips, totaling approximately $553,000 in security expenses, could be directly linked to state business. This pattern of travel, including numerous visits to resort towns and locations where Paxton or his family’s trust later acquired properties, raises serious ethical questions about the potential misuse of public funds and the boundaries of executive privilege.

The revelations come at a critical juncture for Paxton, who was impeached in the summer of 2023 on charges of abusing his office for personal gain. During his subsequent suspension, which lasted over three months while he awaited trial in the state Senate, Paxton embarked on at least 17 trips, including to exclusive resort destinations like Park City, Utah, and Vail, Colorado. He also visited an Oklahoma town where he owns a vacation lodge and a Utah community boasting a golf resort, where he later purchased four condominiums. Each of these journeys was made with a state police escort, costing taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars for travel explicitly unrelated to his duties as Attorney General. Despite these charges, the Texas Senate ultimately acquitted him of the impeachment allegations. However, the comprehensive analysis by the news organizations underscores that Paxton’s use of the taxpayer-funded detail is not an isolated incident but a consistent practice that stands in stark contrast to his predecessor and other high-ranking state officials.

A Pattern of Personal Travel Amidst Public Service

The investigation, which involved a meticulous review of every publicly available document from Paxton’s office regarding his travel, discloses that a mere one in six of his total trips had a listed business purpose. This finding significantly expands upon previous reports, including one by The Associated Press, which highlighted Paxton’s frequent out-of-state travel with minimal official calendar entries. The sheer volume and nature of these undocumented trips, spanning 36 states and 19 countries, reveal a pattern where official duty often appears secondary to personal endeavors, sometimes aligning suspiciously with lucrative real estate investments.

For instance, records show Paxton traveled to a small town in Hawaii months before his family’s blind trust acquired land there. Similarly, he made 24 trips to Utah, where the trust now holds five properties, and 53 trips to Florida, a state where Paxton and the trust own two houses and a townhome. These geographical overlaps between his taxpayer-funded travel and personal financial interests fuel accusations of impropriety. Chris Toth, former executive director of the National Association of Attorneys General and a critic of Paxton’s conduct, articulated the core concern: "If you’ve got all these extra trips, it becomes ethically and morally problematic. The ethical question is whether a legitimate security function has effectively become a taxpayer-funded subsidy."

Texas law grants the Department of Public Safety (DPS) the authority to provide security for key state leaders, including the Attorney General, but it does not mandate its use. Ironically, Paxton himself has forgone the detail in at least two dozen instances when traveling on official business, further complicating the rationale for its extensive use on personal trips. Despite facing persistent accusations from political opponents regarding his use of office perks to enrich himself, and questions about the substantial increase in his personal wealth as a public servant, Paxton has largely remained silent on these specific allegations. When pressed for details regarding the undocumented trips, neither Paxton nor his office provided specific records. Instead, his office issued a general statement asserting that "Throughout his career, Ken Paxton has faced numerous security threats stemming from his courageous work as Attorney General fighting on behalf of the people of Texas. Those threats are a direct result of him taking on the cartels terrorizing Texans and some of the nation’s most dangerous violent criminals." DPS, citing security arrangements, declined to comment on the newsrooms’ inquiries.

An Outlier Among Texas Leadership and National Peers

To contextualize Paxton’s travel habits, the investigation juxtaposed his records with those of his predecessor, Greg Abbott, and other high-ranking Texas officials like Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, as well as attorneys general from other populous states. The comparison paints a stark picture of Paxton as a significant outlier.

During his last three years as Attorney General, Greg Abbott’s security costs amounted to $203,000, which, when adjusted for inflation, averages $7,400 per month. In contrast, Paxton’s security detail has averaged $24,300 per month. While comprehensive travel expense records for Abbott’s tenure as AG are no longer available due to state record retention policies, the available security logs demonstrate a clear divergence. Paxton has taken 82 more out-of-state trips with a security detail than Abbott during their respective tenures as AG, and nearly as many as the current Governor and Lieutenant Governor combined.

Further analysis of international travel reveals that more than two-thirds of Governor Abbott’s international trips in his first six years in office had a listed business purpose. For Paxton, only two of his 25 international trips across his entire tenure as Attorney General were documented as state business. These undocumented international destinations include countries like Albania, Aruba, Australia, Costa Rica, the Czech Republic, the Dominican Republic, England, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Malta, Mexico, Poland, South Africa, and Taiwan.

The proportion of Paxton’s travel with a documented business purpose peaked early in his tenure, between 2018 and 2019, at around 30%. This period generally aligns with the Governor’s recorded business travel percentages. However, this trend has sharply reversed. Last year, in 2023, only five of Paxton’s 91 trips with a security detail had a listed business purpose, while 41 were outside of Texas. This decline in documented official travel, coupled with an increase in out-of-state journeys, raises significant questions about his commitment to the day-to-day responsibilities of his office.

Campaign Trails and Conflicts of Interest

The investigation also uncovered instances where Paxton utilized the security detail for campaign-related activities. Notably, just two days after his acquittal in the impeachment trial, Paxton traveled with security aboard a private plane to Maine, owned by a North Texas businessman, to tape an episode of Tucker Carlson’s show. During the interview, he publicly hinted at a potential challenge to U.S. Sen. John Cornyn in the 2026 Republican primary, stating, "Everything is on the table for me." This direct use of a state-funded security detail for a political appearance, particularly so soon after a major legal battle, highlights a potential blurring of lines between public duty and personal political ambition.

Richard Briffault, a professor at Columbia Law School specializing in government ethics, firmly stated that Paxton should bear the cost of his own security for trips that offer no benefit to Texans, such as vacations and campaign events. "There’s no reason for the taxpayers to be paying for things that they would not be paying for if he had stayed home," Briffault remarked, labeling it "a misuse of public funds." State officials have confirmed that there are no records of Paxton or his campaign reimbursing Texas for any security costs incurred during these trips.

Among the 10 most populous states, only Texas and New York confirmed providing security for their attorneys general as a standard practice, with Florida offering it upon request. Former Oregon Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum, who never used a security detail during her 12 years in office, expressed concern over Paxton’s extensive undocumented out-of-state travel, questioning his commitment to his official duties. "Was he minding the store? There’s a lot of work to be done at the office," Rosenblum observed, implying a potential dereliction of duty.

The Intersecting Paths of Travel and Real Estate Acquisitions

A particularly troubling aspect of the investigation is the clear overlap between Paxton’s taxpayer-funded travel and locations where he or his family’s trust has acquired significant real estate holdings. Since 2021, Paxton or his trust have purchased 10 properties in four states, adding to his portfolio of 15 properties with an estimated market value of $11 million, as detailed in a prior ProPublica and Tribune analysis.

In June 2021, Paxton attended an attorneys general conference in Maui, with his security detail logs listing Lahaina as the destination. Just four months later, his family trust purchased an ocean-view lot in a residential neighborhood there for $410,000. This 7,000-square-foot lot, though still vacant, has proven to be a shrewd investment, now assessed at $1.2 million by Maui County. The trust, established with his estranged wife, State Sen. Angela Paxton, is managed by their friend Chip Loper, who did not respond to requests for comment. Angela Paxton, through a spokesperson, stated she has not been involved in her husband’s business dealings since filing for divorce in 2024.

Paxton has also made 19 trips to the Salt Lake City area, with only two listed for business. Three of these visits, including one business trip, occurred in the months leading up to his family trust’s July 2021 cash purchase of a mountainside lot in the ski town of Eden for $315,000. During his suspension in August 2023, Paxton visited St. George, Utah, near the Black Desert Resort, where he purchased one condo in 2025 and three more in February, taking out mortgages totaling $1.9 million.

Florida has been Paxton’s most frequent destination, with 53 visits, only two of which were documented as business trips. Between 2021 and 2022, he acquired two homes in Ocala and a townhome in Dunedin. Furthermore, Paxton traveled with the security detail twice to Broken Bow, Oklahoma, where he purchased a $1.5 million vacation lodge in 2022. These trips, including one during his suspension in June 2023 and another in December, as well as visits to the neighboring town of Idabel in 2023 and 2024, all lacked a listed business purpose.

Official records confirm that the security detail logs refer to the position of Attorney General, and the two temporary attorneys general appointed during Paxton’s suspension did not take the trips listed. While Paxton’s office has suggested that his work on securing large legal settlements with drugmakers and tech companies necessitates routine travel, a review of his calendars confirms such travel. However, this explanation falls short for the more than 800 trips that lack any documented business purpose.

Paul Nolette, a political science professor at Marquette University who studies attorneys general, acknowledges the evolving and more expansive nature of the role, often involving interstate collaboration on major lawsuits, which could lead to increased travel. He also conceded that public officials, like any American, deserve vacations. However, Nolette expressed skepticism about giving Paxton the benefit of the doubt, especially given the repeated ethical accusations from both Democrats and Republicans. "It just raises more red flags about how he’s using the office to do things that may not give the best bang for the buck for Texans," Nolette concluded.

In a podcast interview in November, Houston lawyer Tony Buzbee, who led Paxton’s impeachment defense, asked the Attorney General about his preferred travel destinations. Paxton’s response, listing "Jackson Hole. I like Park City. I like the mountains. I also like beaches. I like places in Florida, places in California, even though I don’t like to admit I go to California. But it’s beautiful to see them," offers a glimpse into his personal preferences, further highlighting the stark disconnect between his public duties and his extensive, taxpayer-funded personal travels. The ongoing revelations continue to fuel public debate and scrutiny over the ethical standards and accountability expected of high-ranking public officials in Texas.