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Ronny Jackson

Bodycam Video Shows Enraged Ronny Jackson Confronting Texas Troopers

Newly released video shows U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Amarillo, being slammed to the ground by police and angrily confronting a state trooper with profanity during a hectic altercation late last month at a rodeo outside Amarillo.

“You are a fucking full-on dick!” Jackson told the trooper after being brought off the ground, according to bodycam footage provided by the Department of Public Safety. “You better recalculate, motherfucker!”

The DPS trooper, identified in a sheriff’s report as “Trooper Young,” repeatedly told Jackson that multiple people asked him to step aside so EMS could respond to a medical emergency. Jackson, a physician to two presidents, disagreed and continued to confront Young on the sidelines of the event, with bystanders physically restraining Jackson as he lunged toward the trooper, jabbing his finger and yelling profanities.

“I’m gonna call the governor tomorrow and I’m gonna talk to him about this shit because this is fuckin’ ridiculous,” Jackson told Young at one point. “Fuckin’ ridiculous.”

Jackson’s office has insisted that he had been trying to help somebody who needed medical attention and that EMS had not yet arrived when he was summoned to help. His office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the videos but has emphasized his desire to help amid a chaotic situation and blamed “overly aggressive and incompetent actions” by local authorities.

DPS released the 31-minute bodycam video — and a shorter dashcam video — Monday in response to an open records request from The Texas Tribune. There is no audio during parts of the videos, something DPS acknowledged in a letter to the Tribune without providing a reason. DPS also blurred out images of the person receiving medical care.

The dashcam video provides another angle of Jackson furiously confronting the trooper before leaving the rodeo. The video contains audio of the confrontation, which occurred near the hood of the trooper’s car, but country music drowns out the voices. One of the songs is “Irish Goodbye” by Treaty Oak Revival.

The videos confirm the general narrative of a report released Friday by the local sheriff, Tam Terry of Carson County. The report included accounts from multiple officers who responded to the scene late on the night of July 29 at the White Deer Rodeo. Among the claims is that Jackson threatened to beat up the trooper and later in a phone call threatened to go after Terry politically.

Jackson’s office has said he was summoned to help with a medical emergency involving a teenage girl before first responders arrived. He was “briefly detained” amid the chaos and confusion, according to his office.

His office has emphasized he was “not drinking,” though the sheriff’s report challenges that assertion.

In response to the report, a Jackson spokesperson issued a defiant statement saying he was prevented from giving medical care “due to overly aggressive and incompetent actions” by local authorities. The spokesperson, Kate Lair, said Jackson would not apologize for “sparing no effort to help in a medical emergency” in a hectic environment.

About 16 and a half minutes into the bodycam video, Jackson and other people are crouched over the person experiencing the medical emergency when the trooper appears to gesture toward Jackson to get back. Jackson eventually rises up and appears to be confronting the trooper angrily and is then led away from the trooper. Less than a half-minute later, the video shows two officers taking Jackson to the ground and handcuffing him, holding him to the ground with his face down. It is not until 50 seconds later that Jackson is shown standing again. There is no audio during that part.

A short time later, the audio returns and the bodycam video shows Jackson confronting Young, cursing at him and leaning toward him.

“I asked you to get back and you did not get back,” the trooper said.

Their confrontation continues a couple minutes later at a different location. Jackson continued to deny that he repeatedly disobeyed orders to get back, telling Young he was “the first motherfucker” to tell him to do that.

At one point, a man tries to escort Jackson away from the trooper and calm him down.

“Walk with me!” the man said. “Goodness gracious, buddy.”

Jackson refused to walk away and stressed to Young that he “was just trying to help” and is an emergency room doctor. Young said he understood that but added that Jackson needed to listen to his commands.

“I know you’re there to help, right? But I got EMS coming on scene,” Young said to Jackson, who disputed the trooper’s timeline of events. “I said, ‘Hey, we got a car coming.’ Multiple people moved out the way. You came down on your knees and somebody was trying to put something in her mouth that didn’t need to be. We asked not to, right?”

That comment appeared to refer to part of the sheriff’s report that said Jackson tried to care for the patient by putting a gumball in her mouth as a way to elevate blood sugar. Jackson suggested to Young that he did that because she may have been hypoglycemic; Young said she was anemic and Jackson disagreed, telling Young he does not have the medical knowledge to know that.

Jackson eventually leaves the area and gets in a car to depart the rodeo. He continues to yell profanities and can be heard saying, “You fucked up, motherfucker,” as he gets in the car.

Once Jackson is off camera, people around Young can be heard asking who he is. “Someone said he’s a senator,” one said. Young appeared to be unfamiliar with Jackson.

Two witnesses, Chris and Jodi Jordan of Hereford, said they were 5 to 6 feet away from the initial confrontation. They said they do not believe Jackson received adequate notice prior to his apprehension that he needed to back away because EMS was on the way. They said officers “barely missed the concrete” when they took Jackson to the ground.

“From our view, he never saw EMS,” Jodi Jordan said. “He was away from the patient before they showed up on scene.”

The Jordans said they believed Jackson acted responsibly.

“He was simply trying to help someone,” Chris Jordan said.

The incident happened at the White Deer Rodeo, an annual event in a town by the same name about 40 miles northeast of Amarillo. An estimated 4,000 people were in attendance.

Jackson was first elected in 2020 to represent Texas’ 13th Congressional District, a deeply conservative district in the Panhandle. He served as White House doctor for Barack Obama and Donald Trump and remains an ardent supporter of Trump and his 2024 comeback campaign.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Ken Paxton

Impeachment Trial 'Judge' Accepts $3M From Defendant Paxton's Supporters

Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who is presiding over the impeachment trial of suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton, received $3 million in campaign support last month from a top group campaigning against Paxton’s impeachment.

In a campaign-finance report published Tuesday, Patrick — who is not up for reelection until 2026 — reported a $1 million contribution and a $2 million loan from Defend Texas Liberty PAC. The political action committee was by far his biggest benefactor on the report, which covered Patrick’s fundraising from June 19-30. It was the first opportunity state officials had to fundraise since the House impeached Paxton in late May.

Patrick’s Senate has scheduled a trial to begin September 5 to determine whether to permanently remove Paxton from office. Patrick has been acting as presiding officer of the trial — effectively the judge — and the fundraising period partially overlapped with the Senate’s deliberations over the trial rules. The chamber approved the rules June 21.

Shortly after the House impeached Paxton, Defend Texas Liberty PAC sent text messages to GOP voters asking them to call their state senators and tell them to “stop this madness and end this witch hunt.” It has also made clear it will politically target House Republicans who voted for impeachment.

“Defend Texas Liberty will ensure that every Republican voter in Texas knows just what a sham the Texas House has been this session and just how absurd this last minute Democrat led impeachment effort is,” the group said in a May 26 tweet.

The group is led by former state Rep. Jonathan Stickland (R-Bedford), and has been a lead player in trying to push Texas Republicans further to the right. Best known for bankrolling primary challengers to House GOP members, Defend Texas Liberty is primarily funded by longtime far-right megadonors Tim Dunn and the Wilks family.

In its latest campaign-finance filing, the PAC disclosed just under $2 million in donations from Dunn. It also reported a $1.5 million check from Farris and Jo Ann Wilks.

Paxton himself reported $1.7 million in contributions over the last 12 days of June. One of his top donors was Dunn, who gave $150,000.

Patrick has previously received financial support from the PAC, including in his reelection campaign last year. But the latest burst of money comes as all eyes are on his front-and-center role in the impeachment trial.

Patrick’s $1 million donation from the PAC represented nearly a quarter of his total fundraising for the period. The donation arrived June 27, and the loan was made two days later. Its maturity date is June 30, 2025.

Strickland declined to comment on the PAC’s latest support for Patrick. But Strickland appeared to make reference to it in a defiant tweet.

“This is just the beginning, wait till you see the next report,” he said. “We will never stop. Ever. Grassroot conservatives will be heard.”

Patrick’s campaign also declined to comment, citing Senate trial rules. Patrick issued a wide-ranging gag order Monday on parties involved in the case.

Patrick’s campaign, however, issued a news release Monday touting his fundraising without mentioning how much he raised or where the money came from. The only statistic the news release identified was Patrick’s cash on hand as of June 30 — $22.2 million.

“I was humbled by the outpouring of support for the work we have accomplished during the 88th Legislative Session. The grassroots and the business leaders across Texas agree with the direction Texas is heading,” Patrick said in the news release. “I appreciate the financial support.”

Patrick is up for reelection in 2026. He initially said this would be his last term but reversed himself earlier this year, and his campaign reiterated in Monday’s news release that he plans to seek another term in three years.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune. The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, center, shaking hands with former President Trump in El Paso, TX.

Texas Governor Says He Will Solicit Donations To Build ‘Border Wall’

Reprinted with permission from The Texas Tribune

When Gov. Greg Abbott announced last week that Texas would build its own border wall, one of the immediate questions was who would pay for it.

Abbott has not fully detailed the plan yet, but he said in a podcast interview released Tuesday that the state will be soliciting donations from across the country to help fund the wall.

"When I do make the announcement later on this week, I will also be providing a link that you can click on and go to for everybody in the United States — really everybody in the entire world — who wants to help Texas build the border wall, there will be a place on there where they can contribute," Abbott said on the podcast, a show about Republican politics called Ruthless.

Abbott made national headlines with his announcement Thursday in Del Rio that Texas would build its own wall at the Mexico border, though he provided no further details and said he would lay out the plan this week.

In the meantime, Abbott has faced threats of legal action and a bevy of questions about where, when and how such a wall could be constructed.

Abbott said in the podcast interview that the donations to Texas' border wall will go to a fund "overseen by the state of Texas in the governor's office." He promised "great transparency," saying "everyone will know every penny in, every penny out, but the sole purpose for those funds will be going to build the border wall."

Abbott's plan would not be the first attempt to crowdfund a border wall. There was We Build The Wall, a private fundraising effort that raised more than $25 million after originally planning to construct three miles of fence posts in South Texas. Last year, four people involved in We Build The Wall — including Steve Bannon, the former adviser to President Donald Trump — were charged with allegedly defrauding donors to the effort. Trump pardoned Bannon before leaving office in January.

A closer parallel to Abbott's plan may date to 2011, when the Arizona legislature passed a law establishing a fund, complete with a fundraising website, to construct a fence along the state's border with Mexico. The fund received almost $270,000 by 2014, and a state border security advisory committee decided to give most of the sum to a county sheriff in 2015. The sheriff instead invested the money in border security technology such as GPS systems and binoculars, according to the Arizona Republic.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

O’Rourke Will March, Speak Against Border Wall In El Paso During Trump Rally

O’Rourke Will March, Speak Against Border Wall In El Paso During Trump Rally

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune.

Beto O’Rourke is not shying away from the spotlight as President Donald Trump prepares to hold a rally in the El Paso hometown of the former congressman and potential presidential candidate.

On Monday evening, O’Rourke will lead a march through the city and then speak at a “Celebration of El Paso” event at 7 p.m. local time — across the street from Trump’s rally and at the same time it is set to begin, according to O’Rourke’s team. The events, which will feature music and other speakers, are intended to highlight El Paso’s strength as a binational community — and push back against Trump’s long-sought border wall.

The rally comes as O’Rourke nears a decision on whether to join the Democratic race to challenge Trump in 2020 following a closer-than-expected loss to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), in November. Last Tuesday, O’Rourke promised a 2020 decision by the end of the month.

Earlier Monday, O’Rourke will join his successor in Congress, Rep. Veronica Escobar (D-TX), for a conference call to “denounce Trump’s campaign rally in El Paso and his fixation on a racist and useless border wall,” organizers said. And on Friday evening, O’Rourke returned to his favorite blogging platform — Medium — to offer a prebuttal to Trump’s trip.

“Monday we will welcome the president to one of the safest cities in the United States,” O’Rourke wrote. “Safe not because of walls, and not in spite of the fact that we are a city of immigrants. Safe because we are a city of immigrants and because we treat each other with dignity and respect.”

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2019/02/08/beto-orourke-march-trump-rally-el-paso/  

The Texas Tribune is a nonprofit, nonpartisan media organization that informs Texans — and engages with them — about public policy, politics, government and statewide issues.