In 2018, a Texas state senator became embroiled in a scandal after allegedly sexting a grad student.
On Tuesday that same senator was jailed around 2 a.m. for drunk driving, according to police records obtained by WTAW.
The Austin police told the network that they’d stopped state Sen. Charles Schwertner, a Republican, around midnight at a traffic stop in Austin’s Hyde Park neighborhood.
The affidavit reportedly described Schwertner with “a strong odor of alcoholic beverage on his breath,” and it mentioned a 2022 black Cadillac “swerving to the right and left and split the two lanes repeatedly.”
Schwertner left the Travis County jail later that day after posting bail for $3,000.
The senator’s team has remained silent on the matter. As of Wednesday afternoon, his office hasn’t responded to requests for comment from either WTAW, the Daily Caller, Fox News Digital or the Austin American Statesman.
“I met with Senator Schwertner very early this morning directly after his unfortunate arrest,” Schwertner’s lawyer said in a statement to the Austin American-Statesman.
“He was certainly humble and embarrassed by his circumstances but he was clear-eyed, sober and making good sense. Because of this, we’ll be interested in the discovery once it becomes available.”
Schwerter was reportedly scheduled to preside over the Senate’s 11 a.m. meeting about power failures in the state, but he missed the meeting. A member of the Senate Finance Committee, he also missed a committee meeting that same day.
“As Chairman of the powerful Senate Committee on Business and Commerce and the Senate Committee on Constitutional Issues, Schwertner oversees a number of critical policy areas for the state of Texas, including electric utilities, insurance, banking, alcoholic beverage regulation, technology, and telecommunications,” the senator’s website says. “Schwertner also serves as a member of the Senate Committees on Education, Finance, State Affairs, and on the Legislative Budget Board.”
Schwertner represents the state Senate’s fifth district, encompassing central and eastern Texas. He joined the state Senate in 2013… and this isn’t his first scandal.
In 2018, he stood accused of sending sexually explicit texts to a graduate student. He denied the allegations but refused to name the person responsible, according to a 2018 report from the university.
The report concluded that Schwertner didn’t violate University of Texas policies based on “available evidence.” Investigators added, however, that the lawmaker didn’t fully cooperate, and raised the possibility that the unknown person who claimed responsibility could be being “untruthful or does not exist.”
Schwertner, who was re-elected in November, did not address that unknown person or their relationship to him in a statement released around that time.
“I do not condone sexual misconduct of any kind. The University of Texas has closed their investigation because I did not send the offensive text messages in question. I appreciate the steadfast support of my family, friends and voters who believed in and re-elected me just weeks ago,” he said.
Schwertner’s attorneys told investigators that the lawmaker shared his username and password for both LinkedIn and another app called Hushed, according to the report. However, the attorneys didn’t say who else had access to the senator’s login informaiton.
An attorney for that unknown person then told investigators that their client sent the texts without Schwertner’s knowledge, according to the report, but that the attorney wouldn’t disclose their client’s relationship to Schwertner or why the texts were sent.
The messages sent to the student included “Send a pic?” He then said he wanted to have sex with her. The report also says she received a nude photo with the head cropped out of the picture.
At one point, the student responded: “Please stop, this is unprofessional. I’m a student interested in learning about Healthcare Policy. These advances are unwarranted.”
The Horn editorial team and the Associated Press contributed to this article.