The Texas House voted to remove Ken Paxton from office

Defending Attorney General Kenneth Paxton: The Texas House of Common Pleas and the First Condamnation of State Laws

The articles of impeachment said that Mr. Paxton had abused his office by taking bribes, ignoring his official duty, obstructing justice in a securities fraud case, making false statements on official documents and abusing the public trust.

An impeachment would cause Mr. Paxton to be temporarily removed from office, pending the trial on the charges in the State Senate where some of his closest allies would serve as jurors. The Senate proceedings could well be delayed until after the regular legislative session, which ends on Monday. The Senate could reconvene to hold the trial afterward, though the timing remains highly uncertain.

The committee filed 20 articles of impeachment against Mr. Paxton. As they were being handed out around the House chamber, Andrew Murr, the chairman of the committee and a Republican, said that they described “grave offenses.”

Mr.hilton said that Texas law allowed impeachment for conduct since the election, which appears to be a preview of a legal challenge to the proceedings. In most of the articles of impeachment, conduct that occurred before that time is involved.

The articles also accuse Mr. Paxton of benefiting “from Nate Paul’s employment of a woman with whom Paxton was having an extramarital affair,” and of intervening in a lawsuit filed against Mr. Paul’s companies by the Roy F. and Joann Cole Mitte Foundation, an Austin nonprofit group.

The committee said to fire those who spoke up against Mr. Paxton’s actions because they were related to the various ways he used his office to benefit Mr. Paul.

What changed this year was that Mr. Paxton sought state money to try to put the most serious matter behind him, asking for $3.3 million in state funds for a settlement that he had reached with the four aides. The Texas House launched an investigation after receiving the request. Their findings gave the first condemnation of Mr. Paxton’s behavior.

The investigating committee member spoke to the House on Saturday, saying that Attorney General Kenneth Paxton has continuously and blatantly violated laws. “As a body we should not be complicit” in that behavior, he said. Texas is better than that.

Four of the aides were fired several weeks afterrelaying their concerns to the office of the attorney general. The aides filed suit after that, accusing Mr. Paxton of retaliating against them.

Mr. Paxton has closely aligned himself with — and been endorsed by — former president Donald J. Trump, and he has used his office to challenge the results of the 2020 election. He has been involved in legal challenges to actions by the Biden administration, as well as being at the forefront of Republican-led states attempts to challenge the presidents efforts to ease restrictions on migration on the southern border.

The Republican-dominated Texas House has scheduled a vote on the impeachment of the state’s Republican attorney general, Ken Paxton, for Saturday at 1 p.m.

Before he became the attorney general in 2015, Warren Kenneth Paxton Jr. worked as a lawyer and state legislator, serving in both the State House and Senate. His wife, Angela Paxton, became a political force of her own and won a seat in the State Senate in 2018.

As the state’s top law enforcement officer, Mr. Paxton has styled himself as a champion of the social issues that drive Texas conservatives, effectively becoming the state’s chief culture-war litigator. His hard-charging style has led some Republican allies to distance themselves, even as voters have remained loyal.

Mr. Paul, a wealthy real estate investor in Austin, had contacted Mr. Paxton after his home and offices were raided by federal agents in 2019. Mr. Paxton took an unusual step in authorizing a state investigation of the F.B.I.s actions without the recommendation of his staff. He appointed an outside lawyer who referred to himself as a special prosecutor to do it, though investigators for the House committee said that he had no prosecutorial experience. The officials of F.B.I. haven’t commented on the investigation.

They reported from Austin, Texas, and New York. In Austin and New York, David Montgomery and other people contributed to the report.

Reply to Ilan Levin, the Affirmative Attorney General of the Texas House of Representatives, in the Current Session

Ilan Levin, 54, an associate director at an Austin nonprofit, stood beside his bicycle arguing with a group of people. He held a sign in his hand that said impeach. But he said he did not think the impeachment vote would have a big impact.

A few people protested outside the Capitol and a few people confronted each other. “What he’s doing is the right thing, and the speaker is doing the wrong thing,” said a 76-year-old retired information systems manager from Austin, who declined to give his name.

“You keep hearing, ‘Why now?’” said Representative Terry Canales, a Democrat whose father, when he was a state representative, presented articles of impeachment against a district judge in 1975, the last time such a vote was taken. “There’s never a wrong time to do the right thing,” Mr. Canales said, pounding the lectern at the front of the House chamber.

“If I’m ever going to be a part of any impeachment proceeding that actually results in the impeachment of an officer, I don’t want to look like a Saturday mob out for an afternoon lynching,” said Mr. Smithee, After he completed his remarks, a large portion of the public gallery erupted in applause.

John Smithee tried to offer Republicans a solution if they were wavering: Vote no on Saturday and go back for a “one-day hearing” where the evidence could be presented and Mr. Paxton would have time to defend himself.

Brian Harrison, a member of the House’s Freedom Caucus, said he was opposed to the resolution because he was not convinced of the attorney general’s innocence. He said the process did not document his guilt and it was a sham railroading of a political enemy.

The committee didn’t have to look at the evidence directly. It relied on the testimony from the investigators who interviewed employees of the attorney general’s office and collected other documents during its investigation which began in March.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/05/27/us/texas-paxton-impeachment/the-current-session-of-the-texas-legislature-has-been-packed-with-gop-conflict

The Current Session of the Texas Legislature Has Been Packed with Gop Conflict, with Reply from Gov. Ken Paxton

Mr. Trump explicitly threatened Texas Republicans who backed Mr. Paxton’s impeachment and, less than an hour before it started, urged them not to go forward with it. If it does, Mr. Trump will fight you. Ken Paxton is free!

Mr. Cruz said Ken has been the best conservative AG over the last nine years. “I understand that people are concerned about Ken’s legal challenges. The courts should sort them out.

The Legislature voted to oust the sitting governor of Texas in 1917, and since then, there have been no statewide office holders impeached.

The Republican chair of the House investigating committee closed his caucus’s meeting before the vote to encourage his colleagues to impeach. “The evidence presented to you is compelling and is more than sufficient to justify going to trial,” he said, adding: “Send this to trial.”

The final vote was 121 members in favor of impeachment — a bipartisan coalition that included nearly every Democrat and a majority of the chamber’s Republicans — and 23 against, with two abstaining. As they voted, the board in the front of the chamber lit up in green lights signaling support. It went well beyond the 75 necessary.

The Dallas-area Republican who voted in favour of impeachment said it was a hard vote.

Source: https://www.nytimes.com/live/2023/05/27/us/texas-paxton-impeachment/the-current-session-of-the-texas-legislature-has-been-packed-with-gop-conflict

Reply to Rep. Paul Paxton in the House of Deliberations During his Term in a Republican-Governorship Appointment

Texas law says that the governor doesn’t have to appoint an interim Attorney General pending the Senate trial. A spokesman for his office did not respond to a request for comment on what he intended to do.

The Senate trial will be presided over by the lieutenant governor, Dan Patrick, an arch conservative aligned with many of Mr. Paxton’s supporters. Mr. Patrick is neutral in his comments this week. The Senate needs two-thirds to convict, as Republicans hold an advantage of 19-to-12.

Mr. Trump and Senator Ted Cruz of Texas both came to Mr. Paxton’s defense, which argued that the impeachment was done for the benefit of the Democrats.

Mr. Paul provided other benefits to Mr. Paxton, including a woman described during the impeachment proceedings as his mistress, and expensive home renovations.

Even though the alleged offenses were brought up during his campaign, he was re-elected to a third term last year. He has accused the Republicans of working with the Democrats to oust him.

Scores of supporters of Mr. Paxton packed the House gallery — urged to be there by a public appeal from Mr. Paxton the night before — and watched the proceedings mostly in silence. There were no outbursts or any efforts to disrupt the vote.

When Mr. Paxton’s Legacy was Revisited: The Case Against Impeachment and Other Public Official Insights

Mr. Murr, with his distinctive curling mustache, parried many of the attacks on the process by returning to the seriousness of the charges against Mr. Paxton. He said that corruption, bribery, abuse of office, retaliation, and all related charges will not be accepted by the government. “I’m confident that you cannot tolerate let alone defend these most serious and grave official wrongs.

Representative John Smithee, another Republican, took on the role of arguing against impeachment, focusing less on the accusations and more on the ways in which he viewed the process as unfair. He said that there wasn’t enough time for the Legislature to consider such a consequential decision.

Representative Ann Johnson said that he had broken some laws which could lead to jail time. She said that Mr. Paxton’s staff had been compelled to speak up because of their integrity. She said one employee observed Mr. Paxton requesting expensive renovations to his home that would be taken care of by his friend and donor.

House Speaker Dade Phelan was a Republican in his second session leading the House and stayed mostly quiet aside from urging decorum at the start. But because he was seen as having allowed the proceeding to take place at all, Mr. Phelan has come under withering and sustained attack from national Republican figures, particularly those allied with Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump was against Mr. Phelan after the vote. “What is our Country coming to?” Mr. Trump asked on his social media network, Truth Social.