AUSTIN, Texas — Day four of the impeachment trial of suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton rounded out the week of testimony from four state officials who had reported their boss to the FBI.

Former deputy assistant attorney general Ryan Vassar, the third witness, picked back up where he left off Thursday evening and attempted to explain why he and others believed Paxton had committed a slew of white-collar crimes to help an Austin real estate developer, Nate Paul.

GAVIN NEWSOM SAYS IT’S TIME ‘TO MOVE PAST’ SPECULATION ON BIDEN RUNNING

Paxton faces 16 articles of impeachment and was absent again Friday as the panel continued to hear witness testimony.

Vassar returns to trial with changed point of view

Vassar returned to the witness stand Friday morning intent on clearing up a mistake he made during his Thursday testimony.

Vassar said he did have “evidence” at the time that he reported Paxton to the FBI in late 2020 despite telling the Senate jury that he had “no evidence.”

“The absence of documents is the evidence I was referring to,” Vassar told Paxton’s defense lawyer J. Mitch Little on Friday

House prosecutor Rusty Hardin then asked Vassar if he had brought his “brain,” “experience,” and “knowledge” to the FBI meeting as evidence. Vassar said yes, that was the nonphysical evidence he presented.

“Do you realize in the legal world that is evidence?” Hardin said sarcastically, siding with the witness.

Defense paints crying witness as insincere, mean

Little questioned whether Vassar was sad about losing his job after going to the FBI. Vassar had teared up when Little had asked about Paxton calling him a “rogue” employee but suggested he was not as sad as he put on.

Little suggested comments Vassar and his colleagues made in private text message conversations told a different story. In the texts, employees joked about the situation and made fun of Paxton.

The defense counsel painted the whistleblowers as heartless after dragging Paxton through the mud.

One text sent to Vassar and others from then-deputy attorney general James “Blake” Brickman called Paxton a “pathological liar.”

Former Deputy Attorney General for Criminal Justice Mark Penley responded with a sarcastic comment that Paxton was not “all about the people” — rather “all about himself.”

When asked how he felt about his text threads being exposed to the world, Vassar downplayed it and said, “I wouldn’t say that any of us are concerned that it’s being discussed here today.”

Paxton’s top cop warned him of ‘criminal’ Paul

David Maxwell, the top law enforcement officer who reported to Paxton, divulged that his boss brought him to meet with Paul on three occasions.

“I did not want to meet with Nate Paul and expressed my concerns about that to Jeff Mateer (former first assistant attorney general under Paxton),” said Maxwell, the former director of law enforcement at the attorney general office. “He said he was getting a lot of pressure from General Paxton to do this.”

Maxwell worked as a police officer for five decades, making him extremely well-versed in the law. He said he warned his boss based on his experience that Paul was nothing more than a “criminal and we should not be associated with him” despite his pleas for the state official to investigate federal investigators after they raided his home.

Getting involved in Paul’s separate federal investigation would only bring the attorney general legal troubles he said.

Maxwell recalled telling Paxton if he was “to create this investigation and follow through with it, [it] would be obstruction of justice and interfering with a federal investigation.”

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick adjourned the trial early Friday evening. The Senate will reconvene at 9 a.m. Monday.