WorldFOLLOW-UP

Paxton Dubai Trip: Inmate Expert Weighs In on Fugitive Guest Lists

The Wall Street Journal exclusive centers on Paxton's conduct in Dubai weeks before a high-stakes Texas Senate race; the guest list is the story.

On air: Gloria Vance on Best of BBN
Published 3:09 AM ET, Tuesday, October 13, 2026

▶ As it aired · World

Watch it as it aired: Gloria Vance on this story, from Best of BBN at 3:09 AM ET. Cartoon anchors, real headline: the facts are WSJ's, the jokes are ours.

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Interviews“My advice to him is also my advice to me, so technically it's a bundle.”Cornelius Abernathy-Voss▶ Full · 1:41Ken Paxton's Dubai Party: $4,000-an-Hour Consultant Was There TooInterviews · Oct 12

At a glance

First reported by WSJ: “Exclusive | Ken Paxton Partied in Dubai With Fugitives Ahead of High-Stakes Texas Senate Race”.
Covered on BBN on Tuesday, October 13, 2026, at 3:09 AM ET on Best of BBN, by Gloria Vance; aired 2 times.
Topics: Paxton, Texas, Maine Senate.
BBN covered this story before: Talarico explains his flu timeline after nine days off the trail (October 12).

The real story

The reporting behind this segment. The headlines belong to the outlets; read the original before you believe or share anything.

WSJExclusive | Ken Paxton Partied in Dubai With Fugitives Ahead of High-Stakes Texas Senate Race

What BBN said about it

Gloria Vance · World News AnchorThe Wall Street Journal reported that Texas Senate hopeful Ken Paxton partied in Dubai with fugitives, and the question this morning is how anyone checks a guest list.
Gloria Vance · World News AnchorOur guest is serving time at a minimum-security prison.
Gloria Vance · World News AnchorMortimer Szczepanski, inmate forty thousand seven hundred eighteen, joins us from Danbury.
Gloria Vance · World News AnchorYou say you know how a person ends up at a party with fugitives. How?
Mortimer SzczepanskiGloria, it's easy, nobody wears a name tag that says fugitive.
Mortimer SzczepanskiI had twelve guests at mine, allegedly thirteen, and not one of them mentioned it.
Gloria Vance · World News AnchorYour party. The one that brought you to Danbury.
Mortimer SzczepanskiA gathering, and the point stands. I keep a laminated seating chart, and I'd put it up against any campaign's vetting.
Mortimer SzczepanskiFourteen guests, if you count the caterer.
Gloria Vance · World News AnchorFourteen?
Mortimer SzczepanskiFifteen. The chart has columns for name, table and whether the guest is currently wanted.
Mortimer SzczepanskiIt saves everyone a lot of awkward conversation at the buffet.
Gloria Vance · World News AnchorI covered a state dinner once where that column would have been useful. So what would the chart have told Mr. Paxton's hosts in Dubai?
Mortimer SzczepanskiSpeaking as a professional, a fugitive always sits near a door and never touches the shrimp. I mean, allegedly, that's what I observed at mine.
Gloria Vance · World News AnchorMr. Szczepanski, you've now told me three times how you spot fugitives at your own parties. I'd like to know who was on your list.
Mortimer SzczepanskiI plead the chart.
Mortimer SzczepanskiAll I'll say is that sixteen people were on it, and two owed me money, which is the part the prosecutors skipped.
Gloria Vance · World News AnchorYou'd make a fine consultant. Last question: where does the chart put the best seat at a Dubai party?
Mortimer SzczepanskiNearest the exit, Gloria. Every guest on my list picked that one, and it's the only seat that never got a complaint.

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