Trump’s floundering Senate pick partied in Dubai with mistress and two US fugitives: report

The Wall Street Journal has obtained phone footage placing Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, the 63-year-old Republican Senate candidate, in Dubai on New Year's Eve 2024 with his girlfriend, Tracy Duhon, and two men who had not returned home to answer federal charges. Paxton appears to be watching fireworks from a high-rise balcony, according to The Independent.

The men, Anosh Ahmed and Sameer Suhail, were indicted in Illinois that year on health care fraud charges over $15 million allegedly taken from a Chicago hospital where Ahmed was chief financial officer. Both have returned to the United States, and Ahmed is in custody. Suhail's lawyer says civil matters in Dubai delayed him. Campaign records show Ahmed has given Paxton $190,000 overall, $25,000 of it after the charges. Paxton adviser Nick Maddux responded that voters have repeatedly rejected efforts to persecute Paxton.

Democratic rival James Talarico, whom polls now suggest is ahead, has attacked Paxton's travel, citing at least 19 foreign trips with a state-funded security detail from 2022 to 2025, more than Governor Greg Abbott or Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick. President Trump endorsed Paxton in May despite advisers' warnings about his scandals, including a 2023 impeachment and his wife Angela's divorce filing alleging adultery.

Summarized by PolitiKool from The Independent’s reporting. Read the full story at The Independent →