Attor­ney Gen­er­al Pax­ton Sends Let­ter to Chief Clerk Han­cock After His Rogue Actions Sin­gle-Hand­ed­ly Destroyed the OAG’s Abil­i­ty to Defend the Comptroller’s Office in[...]

Attorney General Ken Paxton sent a letter to formally notify Chief Clerk Kelly Hancock that his rogue actions have single-handedly destroyed the OAG's ability to defend the Comptroller's office in the cases challenging the TEFA program.

"Never before have I witnessed such a fundamentally unserious person be both an unbelievable embarrassment to the State and put his own interests above Texans," said Attorney General Ken Paxton. "It would be easy to disregard Kelly Hancock's letter as nothing more than hotheaded, politically-motivated behavior from someone desperately clinging to relevancy, but it's far worse than that: His actions hurt my office's ability to defend the Comptroller's office in these critical cases. He is either not capable of understanding the tremendous damage he is doing to Texas, or more likely, he simply does not care."

Attorney General Paxton continued, "I am continuing to call for Governor Abbott to immediately appoint Don Huffines as Comptroller. It's unclear what exactly caused such rogue, reckless actions by Kelly Hancock, but Governor Abbott, the State of Texas, our school choice program, and every Texas child deserves better than the failed political gamesmanship of Chief Clerk Hancock. While Kelly Hancock's shameful actions have destroyed the attorney-client relationship, thereby making it impossible for my office to defend him, I will continue to be laser focused on fighting for Texas kids by representing the other Defendants in ongoing cases that challenge the TEFA program."

In his response to Hancock's rogue actions, Attorney General Paxton notes that Hancock's letter provided information that the Comptroller's office stunningly failed to include in sworn declarations to the Court in cases challenging the Texas Education Freedom Accounts ("TEFA") program and made false accusations about the OAG's work. Additionally, Hancock withheld basic information necessary to defend these cases. Also, despite the OAG issuing an opinion to explain how the Comptroller's office worked to Kelly Hancock when he asked for help, Hancock's letter appears to fundamentally misunderstand that he has the sole legal obligation and ability to investigate schools with potential ties to foreign terrorist organizations for purposes of the TEFA program.

Beyond this, Hancock attempts to bizarrely attack Attorney General Paxton with falsehoods about a lack of actions to stop foreign adversaries and terrorist organizations from threatening Texans, but his accusations are just plainly inaccurate.

Hancock said he was not aware of anything that had been done to enforce SB 17 by citing a Fifth Circuit ruling-evidently unaware that it was the Office of the Attorney General who successfully defended SB 17 in that very case. Further, Attorney General Paxton's office already submitted proposed SB 17 rules to the Secretary of State on March 16, 2026, and they are due to be published in the Texas Register.

Again, Hancock insulted the work of the OAG by saying he was not aware of anything that the Office of the Attorney General had done to combat the Muslim Brotherhood and the Council on American-Islamic Relations ("CAIR"), evidently ignoring the lawsuit filed by Attorney General Paxton to stop the Muslim Brotherhood and CAIR from operating in Texas. Beyond that, Attorney General Paxton has also taken legal action defending the Governor's lawful declaration that CAIR is a foreign terrorist organization as part of a multi-front battle against the radical group.

Instead of defending false attacks in his letter with "as far as I am aware," it would behoove the Chief Clerk to simply become aware of such cases. Again, it is a truly shocking admission that Kelly Hancock is entirely unaware of critical litigation regarding SB 17 and the efforts to stop foreign terrorist organizations from operating in Texas-further emphasizing the immediate need for Don Huffines to be appointed as Comptroller and Kelly Hancock to be fired as Chief Clerk.

While Chief Clerk Hancock is focused on deploying baseless attacks against Attorney General Paxton and has made it impossible for the OAG to represent the Comptroller's office, Ken Paxton will continue to fight on behalf of Texas kids by representing the other remaining Defendants in these cases.

In addition to the public letter, Attorney General Paxton also sent Chief Clerk Hancock a private letter containing further details regarding the withdrawal, which contained privileged and confidential information that ethical obligations prevent Attorney General Paxton from disclosing publicly. To read the public letter, click here.