FORT WORTH, Texas — Two attorneys who assisted Texas with its lawsuit challenging the presidential election results in four battleground states appear to have done the work free of charge.
Washington, D.C., attorneys Lawrence Joseph and Kurt Olsen were appointed by the Attorney General's Office to help Texas with the case seeking to overturn the presidential election results in Georgia, Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin in the U.S. Supreme Court, according to letters obtained by the Star-Telegram through an open records request. The court did not accept the case.
Attorney General Ken Paxton's office is seeking an exemption from disclosing other requested information, including potential written communication with the White House related to the lawsuit.
A reply to the request states that employees in the attorney general's office who worked on the lawsuit did not keep time records.
Invoices provided show nearly $12,000 in legal document printing costs were incurred.
Paxton sued the four states in December, arguing they made unconstitutional changes to election laws during the coronavirus pandemic. The merits of the lawsuit were disputed by the four states and law experts.
State Rep. Chris Turner, the Texas House Democratic Caucus chair, sent a letter requesting information on state funds used to prepare and file the lawsuit, written communications between White House officials and President Donald Trump's campaign staff and legal team, as well as information about the number of employees working on the lawsuit.
"Through an incomplete response to my public information request, we have so far learned that the taxpayers of Texas are on the hook for about $12,000 in printing costs for a bogus lawsuit that was dismissed out of hand by the U.S. Supreme Court," Turner said in a Monday statement. "In reality though, the price paid by Texas and America is far greater."
Turner said he'll continue to press for information related to "who in the Trump Campaign and White House he (Paxton) has been working with."
"The people of Texas deserve the truth about this shameful episode," Turner said.
