Talarico campaign asks court to unseal Paxton's depositions in energy investing dispute
Talarico’s campaign says voters should be able to review Paxton’s sworn testimony before the election.
SOURCE CHECK
TAP FOR WHYCredibility rates KPRC, which republished this story. The other scores rate the article itself.
The page is published by a local-news outlet but credits the reporting to the Texas Tribune, an established nonprofit newsroom. The article identifies its reporter and includes responses from both campaigns and a lawyer involved in the dispute.
- Source type — Local-news page carrying reporting credited to the Texas Tribune, an established regional newsroom.
- Author attribution — Names Texas Tribune reporter Kayla Guo.
- Transparency — Identifies the court filing and attributes claims and responses to named parties.
The article provides legal and electoral context, attributes claims to the campaign filing and named spokespeople, and includes responses disputing the reported interpretation of Paxton’s deposition. The underlying transcripts remain sealed, limiting independent assessment of the central claims.
HOW WE SCORE ↗The article presents the petition’s rationale and Paxton’s campaign’s response, along with a lawyer’s account disputing the conflict-of-interest claim. Because the depositions are still sealed, the central evidence cannot be assessed directly in the article.
- Counterarguments presented — Paxton’s campaign rejects the effort’s motives; his lawyer says there was no conflict and the records were not privileged.
- Source diversity — Uses statements from both campaigns, the lawyer, and reporting by the Wall Street Journal.
- Omitted context — The sealed transcripts are unavailable, so readers cannot evaluate the testimony directly.
- Loaded language — Strong language appears in campaign quotations and is attributed to its speakers.
The article reports the campaign’s request and its rationale alongside Paxton’s campaign response and the lawyer’s denial of a conflict, using mostly restrained language. Its focus on the unsealed-deposition effort does not itself indicate a discernible partisan lean.
- Language tone — Mostly neutral reporting language, with charged phrases presented as attributed quotations.
- Source selection — Includes statements from both campaigns and a lawyer connected to the dispute.
- Framing — Centers the court petition and its election relevance without adopting either campaign’s claims.
Republished with credit
Republished from Texas Tribune, with credit to the original publisher.
18 stories · 79–82 · updated Oct 1, 2026
This is Texas Tribune's own score, and this article is credited to Texas Tribune. The host score in the Source Check is KPRC's.
James Talarico’s campaign asked a Collin County court to unseal Ken Paxton’s depositions in a years-old securities dispute. The filing argues the testimony is relevant to voters, while Paxton’s campaign called the request a political attack.
Talarico’s campaign petitioned to unseal transcripts of depositions Paxton gave in 2019 and 2022 in a securities dispute. The campaign argued that public access is important because reporting on the testimony raises questions about Paxton’s fitness for office. The transcripts remain sealed, and the case was settled in 2023.
Paxton’s spokesperson called the effort a desperate attempt to distract from Talarico’s record. The article also recounts that a Wall Street Journal report said Paxton acknowledged sharing records from a former client with his lawyer; Paxton’s spokesperson previously called that reporting false, while the lawyer said the records were not privileged.
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Paxton's version of this story ↗Part of a bigger story
8 OUTLETSTalarico’s campaign asked a court to unseal depositions Ken Paxton gave in a securities dispute, arguing voters should be able to review them before the Senate election. Left-leaning outlets frame the request as transparency for voters, with Daily Kos taking a more openly approving tone. Center outlets place the filing in the Senate race context and also track polling and Paxton’s vulnerabilities. Right-leaning outlets frame Talarico’s puppy-themed criticism of Paxton’s animal-welfare record as a campaign-messaging contest.
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