Texas AG expands order to halt Beto O’Rourke’s group fundraising efforts

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Saturday he secured a “modified” temporary restraining order that will halt former U.S. Rep. Beto O’Rourke and his political group, Powered by People, “from removing any property or funds out of Texas.”

ActBlue, who also partners with Powered by People, is included in that order, per a news release from Paxton’s office.

“In Texas, lawless actions have consequences, and Beto’s finding that out the hard way,” Paxton said in the release.

This all comes after Paxton first secured the temporary restraining order last week against Powered by People for alleged “unlawful fundraising activity” for Democrats who broke quorum during the Texas special session, a news release from his office states. A district judge from Tarrant County also sided with Paxton by temporarily blocking the organization from fundraising for “Democrats or financially supporting the quorum break.”

“This is the guy that we’re talking about, who was twice indicted on securities fraud charges. And ladies and gentleman, he was impeached by the Texas Legislature — which is a Republican majority institution — on charges of bribery himself. And he’s accusing us of some kind of fraud as we try to stop the theft of these five congressional seats. Well you know what? We welcome his investigation, we welcome his attack, we welcome their hatred right now. Because it proves that we’re doing the right thing,” O’Rourke said while speaking to a crowd in Oklahoma last week.

The first special session ended Friday after it did not have quorum for the sixth consecutive time, as the House failed to reach the 100 member quorum needed to conduct business. Additionally, Gov. Greg Abbott announced a second special session just minutes after the first special session ended, which will include the 18 original items announced in the first one.

On Saturday, O’Rourke announced Powered by People donated more than $1 million to Texas Democrats during the special session, according to The Texas Tribune. He added “more than 55,000 donations” came from people across the country since the start of the first special session.

Earlier this month, O’Rourke filed his own lawsuit against the attorney general after he was sued. He asked a judge to block Paxton’s investigation into Powered by People, alleging he engaged in a “fishing expedition, constitutional rights be damned,” according to the Tribune.