Texas AG May Be Impeached Immediately, State House Set to Vote After Republicans Turn on Him
The Texas state House will vote Saturday on impeaching Attorney General Ken Paxton. A successful vote would immediately remove Paxton from his post.
The Associated Press reported that 20 articles of impeachment have been filed against Paxton.
Allegations against the Republican include that he has attempted to interfere in foreclosure lawsuits, wrongly issued legal opinions to benefit real estate developer Nate Paul and acted to obstruct whistleblowers in his office. Paxton faces bribery charges alleging that Paul and Paxton had a deal in which Paul hired a woman with whom Paxton allegedly had an affair and paid for work done at Paxton’s home in exchange for legal assistance.
Paxton said lawmakers have no right to impeach him and denied any wrongdoing.
“There’s a statute in Texas, which they are not following: This is an illegal impeachment,” Paxton said, according to Newsmax.
Paxton said his re-election was the root of the uprising against him, saying his opponents “became very disturbed when I won and they concocted this plan – I think months and months ago, maybe right after my reelection – thinking that the voters just were not smart enough to figure this out. They’re going to fix it.”
Paxton said the process of the impeachment has been flawed.
“The members haven’t seen all the information; they haven’t allowed us to participate. We have lots of information that would change the results of their investigation. They have refused to let us testify. They have refused to let us give them information. They have refused to allow us to correct things that even they know are wrong, and that’s the process we’re in,” he said.
“They want this done because the voters, in their opinion, weren’t work smart enough to get it right and they’re going to fix it,” Paxton added.
NEW: Impeachment of Texas AG Ken Paxton will begin tomorrow at 1pm, per memo to all members.
“We cannot over-emphasize the fact that, but for Paxton’s own request for a taxpayer-funded settlement…Paxton would not be facing impeachment.”https://t.co/kh01DVMZti #txlege
— Lauren McGaughy 🌟 (@lmcgaughy) May 26, 2023
However, a memo from the House General Investigating Committee says action is needed because of Paxton’s “long-standing pattern of abuse of office and public trust.”
The memo noted that the catalyst for the probe that led to the vote was Paxton himself, when he asked the House to approve a $3.3 million settlement with whistleblowers.
“But for Paxton’s own request for a taxpayer-funded settlement over his wrongful conduct, Paxton would not be facing impeachment,” the investigative committee wrote in the memo.
“To be negligent is just one thing,” Donna Cameron, who was hired to investigate Paxton, said, according to KUT-FM. “But malfeasance is when you are actively and intentionally doing things to the detriment of the office and to your oath and to the responsibility that you have to the state of Texas and the public.”
However, some claim the impeachment is a piece of political theater.
Today Texas begins impeachment proceedings against her duly elected, and overwhelmingly supported, AG Ken Paxton. House RINOs like SOH Dade Phelan are showing you their agenda of overthrowing the will of the people. They don’t represent the Republicans of Texas. They represent…
— Chad Prather (@WatchChad) May 27, 2023
“The impeachment proceedings against the Attorney General are but the latest front in the Texas House’s war against Republicans to stop the conservative direction of our state,” Matt Rinaldi, who chairs the Republican Party of Texas, said in a statement, according to the Texas Tribune.
The state’s rules for impeachment require immediate removal from office if the articles of impeachment are approved by the House, even before the trial that would follow in the Senate.
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