Ken Paxton, Texas AG, just settled a defamation suit brought by his former deputies and Texas taxpayers will foot the bill. And why did he defame his former deputies? Because they blew the whistle on Paxton’s criminal conduct, a case which is still in limbo. Attorney General Ken Paxton and four of his former top deputies who said he improperly fired them after they accused him of crimes have reached a tentative agreement to end a whistleblower lawsuit that would pay those employees $3.3 million. In a filing Friday, attorneys for Paxton and the whistleblowers asked the Texas Supreme Court to further defer consideration of the whistleblower case until the two sides can finalize the tentative agreement. Once the deal is finalized and payment by the attorney general’s office is approved, the two sides will move to end the case, the filing said. The agreement would bring an end to the lawsuit over the firing of the staffers, but would not end Paxton’s legal troubles. The allegations by the former aides of bribery and abuse of office prompted an FBI investigation, though no charges have been filed and Paxton has denied wrongdoing. Separately, Paxton remains under felony indictment on state charges of securities fraud. In a joint statement, attorneys for three of the whistleblowers — Blake Brickman, David Maxwell and Ryan Vassar — said, “Our clients are honorable men who have spent more than two years fighting for what is right. We believe the terms of the settlement speak for themselves.” Don…