Texas House weighs impeaching AG
Vote on scandal-plagued Paxton set for Saturday
AUSTIN, Texas – The Republican-led Texas House of Representatives has set a historic Saturday vote to possibly impeach embattled state Attorney General Ken Paxton and suspend him from office, just as some prominent conservatives began to rally around him.
Paxton, 60, finds himself on the brink of impeachment after years of scandal, criminal charges and corruption accusations. The House will consider a resolution calling for Paxton’s impeachment at 1 p.m. Saturday, according to a statement released by the House Committee on General Investigating.
If impeached, Paxton would be forced to leave office immediately.
The GOP-led committee spent months quietly looking into Paxton and recommended Thursday that the state’s top lawyer be impeached on 20 articles including bribery, unfitness for office and abuse of public trust.
Paxton, a Republican, has criticized the impeachment effort as an attempt to “overthrow the will of the people and disenfranchise the voters of our state.”
The announcement came as Republican support began to rally around the embattled attorney general, with the chairman of the state Republican Party calling the process a “sham” and calling on the GOP-controlled Senate to acquit Paxton when the cases reaches trial in that chamber.
First will come the House vote. “We cannot over-emphasize the fact that, but for Paxton’s own request for a taxpayer-funded settlement over his wrongful conduct, Paxton would not be facing impeachment by the House.”
The move to impeach sets up what could be a remarkably sudden downfall for one of the GOP’s most prominent legal combatants, who in 2020 asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn President Joe Biden’s victory.
Paxton has been under FBI investigation for years over accusations that he used his office to help a donor. He was separately indicted on securities fraud charges in 2015, but has yet to stand trial.
When the five-member committee’s investigation came to light Tuesday, Paxton suggested it was a political attack by the House’s “liberal” Republican speaker, Dade Phelan. He called for Phelan’s resignation and accused him of being drunk during a marathon session last Friday. Phelan’s office brushed off the accusation as Paxton attempting to “save face.”
It’s “a sad day for Texas as we witness the corrupt political establishment unite in this illegitimate attempt to overthrow the will of the people and disenfranchise the voters of our state,” Paxton said in a statement Thursday, calling the committee’s findings “hearsay and gossip, parroting long-disproven claims.”
Impeachment requires a majority vote of the state’s usually 150-member House chamber, which Republicans now control 85-64, since a GOP representative resigned ahead of an expected vote to expel him.
It’s unclear how many supporters Paxton may have in the House, where he served five terms before becoming a state senator. Since the prospect of impeachment suddenly emerged Wednesday, few top Republicans have backed Paxton.
But statewide support for Paxton started to emerge Friday. The strongest came from state Republican Party Chairman Matt Rinaldi, who called the pending impeachment a “sham” and indicated the Republican-led Senate would stop it.
The articles of impeachment issued by the investigative committee, which include three Republicans and two Democrats, stem largely from Paxton’s alleged efforts to protect a wealthy donor from an FBI investigation and his attempts to thwart whistleblower complaints brought by his own staff.
Impeachment in Texas requires immediate removal from office until a trial is held in the Senate. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott could appoint an interim replacement. Abbott’s office did not respond to requests for comment on the impeachment counts.
Final removal would require twothirds support in the Senate.
Paxton, 60, faces ouster at the hands of GOP lawmakers just seven months after easily winning a third term over challengers.
The attorney general characterized his potential impeachment as “a critical moment for the rule of law and will of Texas voters.”
In one sense, Paxton’s political peril arrived with dizzying speed: The House committee investigation came to light Tuesday, followed the next day by an extraordinary public airing of alleged criminal acts he committed as one of Texas’ most powerful figures.
But to Paxton’s detractors, the rebuke was years in the making.
In 2014, he admitted to violating Texas securities law over not registering as an investment advisor while soliciting clients. A year later, Paxton was indicted on felony securities charges by a grand jury in his hometown near Dallas, where he was accused of defrauding investors in a tech startup. He has pleaded not guilty to two felony counts.
He opened a legal defense fund and accepted $100,000 from an executive whose company was under investigation by Paxton’s office for Medicaid fraud.
But what has unleashed the most serious risk to Paxton is his relationship with another wealthy donor, Austin real estate developer Nate Paul.
Several of Paxton’s top aides in 2020 told the FBI that they had became concerned the attorney general was misusing the powers of his office to help Paul over unproven claims that an elaborate conspiracy to steal $200 million of his properties was afoot.
The impeachment charges cover myriad accusations related to Paxton’s dealings with Paul.
The allegations include attempts to interfere in foreclosure lawsuits and improperly issuing legal opinions to benefit Paul, and firing, harassing and interfering with staff who reported what was going on.
The eight aides who reported Paxton to the FBI were all fired or quit, and four later sued under Texas’ whistleblower law, In February, Paxton agreed to settle the case for $3.3 million. But the Texas House must approve the payout, and Phelan has said he doesn’t think taxpayers should foot the bill.