Texas Attorney General and Senate candidate Ken Paxton shut down his own press conference and ran away after being asked questions about his own controversies.
Paxton was appearing with sheriffs from across the state in Fort Worth, Texas, on Tuesday. His goal was to tout his support for law enforcement, but the Republican Senate hopeful panicked after not getting the questions he wanted.
First, he tried to keep the questions focused on law enforcement, but when that did not work, he stopped taking questions altogether and quickly fled the room as the group of sheriffs in cowboy hats around him looked on.
“I wanted to give you a chance to respond to State Rep. Talarico and his campaign. They’ve made a lot about the reports that have come out, one in The New York Times about you acquiring properties worth nine million,” Jack Fink from the local CBS station asked.
“Jack, can we keep this to law enforcement today?” Paxton responded.
“Well, I’m giving you the opportunity to answer the questions about...” the reporter tried to respond before being cut off.
“We’re here with the sheriffs. I’d like to keep today to law enforcement, so that’s what I’m gonna answer, questions about law enforcement,” the state Attorney General repeated.
A staffer instead called on another reporter to ask a question, but the situation went downhill from there.
The reporter asked if Paxton would answer a question about why he voted in Collin County, Texas.
It comes after a report earlier this month found he may have violated state election law by using an address where he did not live while voting in six elections in two years.
“We’re just going to do questions on law enforcement today because we’re joined with twenty-two amazing law enforcement officers,” the staffer said.
“You guys don’t have any, that’s fine,” Paxton added. “I can move on.”
Paxton then proceeded to answer just one question from Fink after the state attorney general refused to answer his first question, but after one question, his team shut down the press conference.
“We’re going to get out of here,” the same staffer said as another reporter said she had a question.
The reporter pointed out that the Republican Senate hopeful had only answered one question at his event, but Paxton kept walking toward the exit as the group of sheriffs looked on.
When the reporter continued to ask her question about whether public safety was a priority over health care, Paxton briefly paused to say just because he was focused on public safety did not mean he didn’t care about other issues. He then quickly left the room.
Paxton would not address a question about The New York Times report this month that he has expanded his real estate holdings, which are worth an estimated $9 million.
However, his campaign did not address questions about his latest real estate transactions, which included the purchase of three condominiums worth $1.6 million at a luxury resort in Utah despite his assets being part of corruption allegations dating back years during his time in state office.
