Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton asks supporters to protest vote to impeach
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday urged his supporters to protest at the state Capitol when Republicans in the House of Representatives take up historic impeachment proceedings that threaten to oust him.
The House has set a Saturday vote to consider impeaching Paxton and suspending him from office over allegations of bribery, unfitness for office and abuse of public trust — accusations that have trailed him for most of his three terms.
Paxton, 60, decried the impeachment proceedings as “political theater” that will “inflict lasting damage on the Texas House,” adding to his earlier claims that it’s an effort to disenfranchise the voters who returned him to office in November.
“I want to invite my fellow citizens and friends to peacefully come let their voices be heard at the Capitol tomorrow,” he said at a news conference, without taking any questions. “Exercise your right to petition your government.”
The request echoes former President Donald Trump’s call for people to protest his electoral defeat Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob violently stormed the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. The Texas attorney general spoke at the rally in Washington that proceed the insurrection.
If impeached, Paxton would be forced to leave office immediately. He would be just the third person in the state’s nearly 200-year history to be impeached and the first statewide officer since former Gov. James “Pa” Ferguson in 1917.
Paxton finds himself on the brink of impeachment after years of scandal, criminal charges and corruption accusations. The House will begin considering a resolution calling for Paxton’s impeachment at 1 p.m. Saturday, according to a statement released Friday by the House Committee on General Investigating.
A GOP-led investigative committee spent months quietly looking into Paxton and recommended his impeachment Thursday on 20 articles including bribery, unfitness for office and abuse of public trust.
Paxton has called it an attempt to “overthrow the will of the people and disenfranchise the voters of our state.” He has said the impeachment charges are based on “hearsay and gossip, parroting longdisproven claims.”
Prominent conservatives had been notably quiet on Paxton, but some began to rally around him late Friday morning. The chairman of the state Republican Party, Matt Rinaldi, criticized the process as a “sham” and urged the GOP-controlled Senate to acquit Paxton if he stands trial in that chamber.
“It is based on allegations already litigated by voters, led by a liberal speaker trying to undermine his conservative adversaries,” Rinaldi said, echoing Paxton’s criticism of Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan. He said the Senate will have to “restore sanity and reason for our state.”