Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton — Running for US Senate — Dodges Questions About Child Rapist Who Only Got 30 Days in Jail Under Paxton Deal

In a video that circulated online Wednesday, Paxton is seen walking into what appears to be a Washington, D.C.-based hotel when he is approached by a man who begins asking the GOP nominee for U.S. Senate about the case. 

“What do you think about Adam Hoffman? Why did you get a plea deal for a child sex predator? Do you have anything to say about that?” The man continues his line of questioning. “Should he be registered as a pedophile in the state of Texas, a sex offender? What do you have to say to the victim of Adam Hoffman?”

…Hoffman, a former Waco-based attorney, was accused of sexually abusing the boy repeatedly for years. The boy told an investigator that Hoffman raped him and showed him pornography, according to court records. The case went to trial but was resolved through a plea deal, which dropped the felony charge of “continuous sexual abuse of a young child” and allowed Hoffman to plead guilty to two misdemeanors and initially only called for him to serve one day in jail.

The judge in the case increased the sentence from 30 days to 60 days in jail after the mother of the boy said the first sentence was “not enough” time. Hoffman’s legal team accepted the terms of the deal, which also included surrendering his Texas law license and a “lifetime protective order” barring him from contact with the victim. However, it did not require him to register as a sex offender in the state. Hoffman ended up spending 30 days in jail and was released early under the county’s good behavior policy.