Paxton Impeachment Attorney Backs Talarico for Senate

A former defense attorney for Texas attorney general Ken Paxton, the GOP nominee in this year’s U.S. Senate race in Texas, says he is now backing the Democratic candidate, state representative James Talarico. The attorney, Dan Cogdell, has a long record of supporting Democrats, though last year he gave thousands of dollars to Mr. Paxton’s Senate campaign after defending him during his impeachment trial in the legislature and in the criminal cases Mr. Paxton faced in his personal life. Mr. Cogdell is a well-known white collar defense attorney based in Houston who has captured some online attention for his YouTube show, Cogdell Law Uncensored. He says Mr. Paxton can’t be trusted at the moment to represent the people of Texas. “I defended Ken Paxton for years [in] the impeachment trial and his state criminal cases, but in my view, respectfully, I think Ken has lost sight of his core mission, which is to represent the people of Texas,” Mr. Cogdell said in a video alongside Mr. Talarico on Monday. “Unlike Ken, I believe to my core, James, that you believe in unity over division and that you know how to assemble not only Democrats, but independents and Republicans, and we need that right now,” Mr. Cogdell said. Mr. Cogdell has been practicing law in Texas for more than 40 years. One of his most well-known cases was his representation of Clive Doyle, a leader of the Branch Davidian cult that became nationally known after the Waco siege in 1993. Doyle, who died in 2022, was acquitted of murder conspiracy charges after the incident. In 2023, Mr. Cogdell defended Mr. Paxton from allegations that he had abused his power, used his office for personal gain, obstructed justice, and retaliated against whistleblowers. He was impeached by a margin of 121–23, with nearly 75 percent of Republican state representatives voting in favor of impeachment. Mr. Paxton was later acquitted by the state Senate. During his conversation with Mr. Cogdell on Monday, Mr. Talarico made the case that he is the only person able to bring Texans together. He argued for comprehensive immigration reform and tight border control. Mr. Talarico also said that he is opposed to gender reassignment treatments and surgeries for minors. He also praised the oil and gas industries for keeping Texas families “afloat.”“I’m not interested in pitting people against each other. I’m not interested in selling out for mega-donors,” Mr. Talarico said. According to campaign finance records, Mr. Cogdell has a long record of supporting Democrats in Texas, including the 2018 candidate for the U.S. Senate seat, Beto O’Rourke. He has also given generously to Mr. Paxton’s Senate campaign. According to FEC records, he donated more than $6,000 to Mr. Paxton’s campaign before sending $1,000 to Mr. Talarico in March. Some of Mr. Paxton’s other lawyers were quick to dismiss Mr. Cogdell’s endorsement, saying he has always been a Democrat despite past representation of Mr. Paxton. “I was Paxton’s lead lawyer in the fraudulent impeachment. Our team consisted of more than twenty lawyers. I understand that my friend Dan Cogdell publicly supports AG Paxton’s opponent. I’m not surprised by this. Mr. Cogdell is a life-long Democrat,” Mr. Paxton’s top attorney in the impeachment case, Tony Buzbee, wrote on X. “I love Dan, but he is a Democrat, and he doesn’t vote very much. This impeachment defense lawyer is 100 percent behind Ken Paxton. I’ve personally served alongside Representative Talarico, and — when he’s working-he’s doing really radical, leftist things,” said Texas state representative Mitch Little, who represented Mr. Paxton along with Messrs. Cogdell and Buzbee at the impeachment trial in 2023.

Paxton Impeachment Attorney Backs Talarico for Senate

Paxton Impeachment Attorney Backs Talarico for Senate

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