STATEMENT OF KENT SCHAFFER & BRIAN WICE, SPECIAL PROSECUTORS

The statement made by Mr. Paxton's spokesman recycles the ususal

sound bites, culled from the play book of any public official whose
conduct places them in the cross-hairs of a grand jury investigation.
Neither the TSSB, nor the Dallas and Travis County District Attorney's
Offices, have looked at the matters which we have been tasked with
investigating through the same prism as we have, or with the benefit of
the evidence being assembled by the Texas Rangers, that none of
these agencies had before them. Indeed, both the Dallas and Travis
County District Attorneys Offices declined to pursue a criminal
action precisely because they concluded that neither office had
jurisdiction over the conduct giving rise to this investigation.
While Mr. Paxton implies that being from Houston is a reason why our
investigation is politically-motivated, his silence as to why our home
town comes within a time zone of relevance speaks volumes. We were
brought in from Houston to ensure that an investigation that could
have easily been driven by partisan politics and political agendas
would not.
While Mr. Paxton would seem to prefer that this investigation be
conducted by experienced prosecutors from North Texas, no one who
is the subject of a grand jury investigation, least of all one of the top
public officials in Texas, gets to make that call. Tellingly, Mr. Paxton
feels that a Dallas address or a career spent as a prosecutor somehow
trumps our over seven decades of trial and appellate experience as
two of Texass most respected criminal lawyers.
The facts, which Mr. Paxton would rather ignore than acknowledge,
are, as Churchill said, stubborn things. And thats exactly what we will
provide the grand jury with: the facts. Our investigation will continue
to be informed by what our oaths as special prosecutors commands:
to do justice. And sound bites and personal attacks wont change that.
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