Records reveal Patrick’s calls to senators during trial
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick spoke to two Republican senators widely seen as swing votes during the deliberations in Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial, according to public records obtained by Hearst Newspapers.
Patrick had a 15-minute conversation with Sen. Joan Huffman about 10 p.m. on Sept. 15, the records show. Senators had begun deliberating around noon, and they voted to acquit Paxton of all corruption charges the next day.
The lieutenant governor also spoke with Sen. Brian Birdwell, R-granbury, twice during deliberations. He talked to the senator for three minutes around 5:30 p.m. Sept. 15, and they chatted again for 15 minutes early the next morning. Birdwell initiated the calls both times.
Patrick previously acknowledged that he talked to two senators on Sept. 15 to discuss procedural questions they raised, but he had not named them publicly. Patrick was acting as judge during the trial and has repeatedly denied that he in any way influenced the outcome.
He also has explicitly rejected accusations that he called senators during deliberations to ask them to vote “no” on the articles of impeachment. Hearst Newspapers requested Patrick’s call logs, which his office turned over late Monday.
The lieutenant governor “communicated primarily with both Sens. Birdwell and Huffman because he was the chairman of the rule committee, and she was instrumental in writing the rules,” Patrick spokeswoman Alex Lovell said.
He also spoke to two Democratic senators — Borris Miles of Houston and Royce West of Dallas — during deliberations.
Birdwell first called to ask whether senators could leave early on Sept. 15 if they’d already made up their minds, Lovell said. She said Huffman texted Patrick and asked him to call her that night because “she had a question about the next day’s procedure for voting.”
The next morning, Patrick spoke to Birdwell again to discuss “procedure and the order of the day,” Lovell said.
Five sources familiar with the deliberations told Hearst Newspapers last month that Huffman was one of at least three Republicans who were seriously considering conviction but changed their minds when they realized they would not reach the 21 votes required to oust Paxton from office. She has denied that characterization and said her vote was based only on the evidence presented to her.
Birdwell similarly said the witness testimony “provided sufficient reasonable doubt,” and House prosecutors did not meet their burden of proof. He had appeared open to conviction during early deliberations, the sources said.
Huffman and Birdwell both confirmed Tuesday that their talks with the lieutenant governor only related to procedural issues. Huffman said their discussion had “absolutely not” affected her votes.
“Lt. Gov. Patrick ran the trial with great professionalism and integrity, and at no time throughout the entire trial process did he influence my vote as a juror,” Birdwell said in an emailed statement. “Any suggestion otherwise is uninformed and false conjecture.”
The lieutenant governor spoke briefly with Democratic Sens. Miles and West on Sept. 15 and 16, respectively. Miles had called Patrick to let him know that he wasn’t feeling well and would temporarily return to his office, and West asked the next morning what time he needed to be at the Capitol, Lovell said.
Senators on both sides of the aisle generally have said Patrick conducted the trial as fairly as possible, especially because he does not have a legal background. But Paxton critics have accused Senate Republicans of either pre-determining the outcome or caving to political pressure from outside groups, and House Speaker Dade Phelan wrote in an op-ed that “the fix was in from the start.”
They have pointed to Patrick’s post-verdict speech, in which the lieutenant governor blasted the House for rushing the impeachment process and relying on “triple hearsay that would never be allowed in court.”
All but two Republican senators — Robert Nichols of Jacksonville and Kelly Hancock of North Richland Hills — voted to acquit Paxton, who was accused of accepting bribes and misusing the powers of his office.
Sens. Drew Springer of Muenster and Mayes Middleton of Galveston were among the GOP senators seriously considering conviction, sources said. Springer also denied that he had switched his vote, but he told the Gainesville Daily Register that eight of 16 Republicans who voted to acquit were “really close” to swinging in the other direction.
Ultimately, the burden of proof was too high, he said. Middleton did not respond to requests for comment.