AG Paxton calling for Beto O’Rourke to be imprisoned for helping absent Democrats

AUSTIN, Texas (KVIA) -- Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton claims that Beto O'Rourke is violating a judge's temporary restraining order prohibiting him from raising funds for the Democrats who left the state amid the redistricting fight. Paxton filed a "filed a motion for contempt" against O'Rourke today.

Last week, Paxton sued O'Rourke and his organization, Powered by People, for their alleged involvement in fundraising for the Democrats. The lawmakers had left Texas a few days before Paxton filed his lawsuit. They had left to break the quorum in the Texas House of Representatives to stop a Republican-led effort to change Texas' congressional districts. The same day that Paxton filed his lawsuit against O'Rourke, a Texas district court granted a temporary restraining order to halt all expenditures and fundraising by O'Rourke and his organization.

"Less than 24 hours after the temporary restraining order was signed, Robert Francis told a crowd of hundreds in Fort Worth that he would continue fundraising in violation of the restraining order because 'there are no refs in this game, f*** the rules.' Robert Francis is wrong on both counts," Paxton's office said, referring to O'Rourke by his legal name. "There is a referee—the Honorable Megan Fahey—and there are rules—namely, that a person violating a temporary restraining order can be fined up to $500 and jailed for up to six months."

Paxton is now calling for O'Rourke's imprisonment. Read today's filing below: