After the Texas Tribune and ProPublica reported that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton took nearly 1,000 out-of-state trips at a cost of more than $3 million to taxpayers, documents obtained by the Current show he wasn’t the only one in his office spending lavishly on travel.
American Oversight investigators provided the Current with documents that the nonpartisan watchdog group says reveal Paxton created a “culture of excess” that led to numerous cases of employees going over state-imposed expense limits at luxury hotels.
“At a time when many Texans can’t afford to buy groceries, it is appalling that senior officials in Ken Paxton’s office are spending taxpayer funds on luxury hotel rooms at more than double the federal rate,” Chioma Chukwu, American Oversight’s executive director, told the Current in an emailed statement.
The Current reached out to Paxton’s office to ask it to justify the expenses in question. We got no response by press time.
American Oversight’s investigators first requested documents from the Texas Attorney General’s Office in July. The documents obtained by Freedom of Information requests and provided to the Current include hotel receipts, airfare bookings, travel reimbursement forms and rate extension requests from the first half of this year.
The newly uncovered records follow a joint Texas Tribune-ProPublica investigation published earlier this month that shows Paxton spent more than $3 million in taxpayer dollars on nearly 1,000 out of state excursions, many of which included a private security detail.
Travel reimbursement forms, travel vouchers and hotel receipts provided to the Current show that the cost of hotel stays by Paxton staffers frequently exceeded maximums set by the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) by hundreds of dollars. Texas agencies use the GSA numbers to set their maximum allowable reimbursement rates for travel.
In several cases, employees picked one of the most luxurious hotels in the neighborhood, claiming to have legitimate reasons for going over budget, when lower-priced hotels were available in walking distance.
Staffers in the Attorney General’s Office who appear to have gone over their federal maximums include First Assistant AG Brent Webster, Deputy First Assistant Ralph Molina, former Chief of Staff Lesley French-Henneke, Solicitor General William Peterson and Paxton himself, documents show.
Webster and Molina went on one such trip to Washington, D.C., in January. Along with their state transportation request forms, Webster and Molina attached a request to increase their maximum lodging rate from the federal maximum of $392 per night for Webster and $199 per night for Molina so they could stay at the lavish St. Regis-Marriott Hotel in separate rooms at $499 a night per room.
On the list of reasons the form offered for justifying the requested rate increase, including safety, Webster selected “other.” In the field meant to explain his selection, he stated that he needed “to stay in close proximity” to “business events” and “meetings” in and around the White House grounds.
The St. Regis is a third of a mile away from the White House, or about a four- to six-minute walk. However, it’s not the only lodging nearby.
The RegisPlace Washington DC/White House is located a block away, and its average room rate is $295 a night, or $200 lower than the St. Regis, according to rates obtained via Google Maps. At least nine hotels with four or five stars within a half-mile walk of the White House offer lodging at half the cost or less of the St. Regis, the online app shows.
In total, Webster’s and Molina’s two-night stay at the St. Regis cost taxpayers $2,499.98, according to hotel receipts provided to the Current. In addition to the room charges, the total included a variety of taxes and fees.
Both Webster’s and Molina’s waivers the St. Regis trip cite the other man’s presence as a reason for staying at the hotel. Every approval on Molina’s waiver was signed after the trip, documents show.
“Many of these trips are documented with little more than vague references to unnamed meetings and events,” Chukwu said. “That falls short of the transparency Texans should expect from any public office, let alone the one responsible for enforcing the state’s open records law.”
On another occasion, Webster stayed nearby at the JW Marriott, where the room rate was $759 for the first night. The cap on his waiver was $552.
The justification for the requested rate increase was proximity to a “speaking event” that isn’t named in the files supplied to the Current. The waiver’s approval table — a space on the form that Ken Paxton himself and Chief of Staff Lesley French-Henneke would sign off on the expense — was left blank.
For a New Orleans trip taken by former Chief of Staff Lesley French-Henneke and other staffers for a 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals case, the Attorney General’s Office paid $259 per night against a $157 GSA rate, documents indicate. The office also paid a $1,295 “room attrition” charge for five nights it booked but didn’t use.
Beyond that, Paxton took a trip to D.C. to attend what an expense form described as “meetings” and President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address. However, no meetings are listed in the travel documents.
Setting the tone
In an interview with the Current, Chris Toth, the former executive director of the National Association of Attorneys General (NAAG), said Paxton’s spending habits likely “set the tone” for the office’s culture.
“Obviously, any leader sets the tone for his organization, and if the boss is doing things to excess then it’s more likely the staff would do it,” Toth said. “One of the first rules of leadership is setting a good example for those you lead. So it’s certainly problematic.”
Toth served in NAAG’s top leadership role from 2017 until he retired in June 2022. His departure from the role came one month after Paxton announced that Texas was withdrawing from NAAG, criticizing it as a “biased, left-wing org.”
At the time, Toth maintained there are Republicans at every level of the organization. He had served as the group’s deputy executive director from February 2004 until his 2017 promotion to executive director.
Toth, who’s also a former district attorney from Indiana and a retired lieutenant colonel who served in both the Navy and Army Reserve, said the “frequency of the trips” Paxton has taken is what makes them especially excessive.
“It’s beyond the pale, and it’s unlike anything I’ve really seen in another AG office,” Toth told the Current.
Process questions
The travel documents provided to the Current show employees at the Attorney General’s Office often sought reimbursement in excess of maximum limits. However, they don’t include bank statements or proof of wire transfers to show whether those who filed them received full reimbursement.
Because the state provides an established process for requesting higher lodging rates, it’s unclear whether AG staffers violated any rules or laws by exceeding the standard limits. It’s also unclear whether state guidelines limit how frequently agencies can request higher lodging rates.
However, if an investigation shows individuals in Paxton’s office did something illegal, Toth said the Attorney General’s Office would likely be involved in the enforcement — creating significant complications. Additionally, a Texas grand jury might play a role in any legal rebuke, which would be under the authority of the Travis County district attorney, Toth added.
“There may be things that are legal, but they’re not necessarily ethical,” Toth added. “And they certainly may not be acting as a good steward of public monies. When you’re a public official, just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.”
The Texas Attorney General’s Office submits expenses for reimbursement to the Texas Comptroller’s Office, which is tasked with overseeing the reports to guard against waste, fraud and abuse in accordance with 34 Texas Administrative Code Section 5.61.
Kelly Hancock served as Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts from July 2025 until July 2026 and would have overseen reimbursement of the springtime expenses reviewed by the Current.
Since Hancock’s departure, progressive groups have criticized his replacement, Don Huffines, for directing the comptroller’s office to use taxpayer money to fund a $3 million renovation of its facilities, including the addition of an on-site coffee shop, the Dallas Morning News reports.
Huffines assumed the position in August 2026 at the appointment of Gov. Greg Abbott, meaning the expense forms provided to the Current would already have been reviewed by the comptroller’s office before Huffines arrived.
Even so, Huffines would be in charge of overseeing reimbursement sought by the office now and — should he win Tuesday’s election against Democrat Sarah Eckhardt — for the next four years.
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