my only goal in life is to never have a governmental body draft a list of things i've done wrong that is this thicc https://t.co/etKmjWb8w5 — Jessica Huseman (@JessicaHuseman) May 26, 2023 AUSTIN, Texas (@AP) — GOP-held Texas state House sets Saturday afternoon vote on impeachment of Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton. — Jake Bleiberg …
If the full House impeaches Paxton, everything shifts to the state Senate for a “trial” to decide whether to permanently remove Paxton from office, or acquit him. Removal requires a two-thirds majority vote.
But there is a major difference between Texas and the federal system: If the House votes to impeach, Paxton is immediately suspended from office until the outcome of the Senate trial. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott would appoint an interim replacement.
The GOP in Texas controls every branch of state government. Republican lawmakers and leaders alike have until this week taken a muted posture toward the the myriad examples of Paxton’s misconduct and alleged law breaking that emerged in legal filings and news reports over the years…
A few hours before the impeachment vote, Gov. Abbott, who has stayed quiet about it, is scheduled to make a Memorial Day address to lawmakers in the House chamber.
The Capitol and the House gallery have been the site of boisterous demonstrations over gun and LGBTQ+ rights legislation in recent weeks. Hundreds of state police troopers cleared the gallery and Capitol rotunda after protests erupted over a bill to ban transgender medical care for minors.
AG Ken Paxton in a Friday press conference said House members were showing “contempt for the electoral process” in the move to impeach him. He accused them of sabotaging his work that challenged the Biden administration. https://t.co/gwEzxLJJVX
— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) May 26, 2023
Ken Paxton's primary argument for why impeaching him is illegal appears to be that he sues Biden a lot.
— Jessica Huseman (@JessicaHuseman) May 26, 2023
"WHY WONT YOU ANSWER ANY QUESTIONS" yells a bored sounding reporter in Texas at Ken Paxton as he leaves his press conference, speaking for us all.
— Jessica Huseman (@JessicaHuseman) May 26, 2023
The Texas House will vote on accusations against Ken Paxton that include bribery, dereliction of duty, disregard of official duty and obstruction of justice.https://t.co/TvRziXTNCB
— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) May 26, 2023
Lacking principles upon which to stand, Paxton, facing impeachment, is in a constant free fall. https://t.co/a1UvLw9Ta4
— San Antonio Express-News (@ExpressNews) May 26, 2023
The crucial political difference between ‘powerful’ and ‘popular’…
On Tuesday, indicted Attorney General Ken Paxton called on Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan to resign.
The assertion was rich because if there is one public official in Texas who should resign, it is Paxton. Not only has he been indicted for felony securities fraud in a case that has dragged on since 2015, but he has been under FBI investigation since 2020 for alleged favors to a donor, Nate Paul, an Austin developer.
As so often is the case with Paxton’s words and actions, the question isn’t so much what he says or does, but why. Why would he suddenly call on Phelan to resign, citing without evidence, that he was drunk while presiding over the House? Paxton pointed to a short video clip in which Phelan was slurring his words, but his speech was fine before and after that moment.
The question of why was quickly answered when it was made clear a Texas House committee investigating Paxton for alleged misconduct would hold a public hearing. Over the course of three hours Wednesday, the House General Investigating Committee heard explosive and damning testimony. The GOP-led committee then voted unanimously to recommend impeachment…
Even without the weight of impeachment, Paxton is unfit for office. This is an attorney general who spent $2.2 million in 2021 to prosecute three voter fraud cases. This is an attorney general, drunk with power, who asked the public to “target” the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals after an 8-1 decision that found Paxton’s office does not have the authority to prosecute election fraud cases.
He requested a rehearing, and then, appearing on a podcast with former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, called on the public to “target the Court of Criminal Appeals to take those people out that voted the wrong way.”
Given the ethical, legal and moral issues that have defined Paxton’s tenure, his potential defenestration is hardly surprising, even as it comes from his fellow Republicans. But what is surprising is that it has taken so long to arrive at this moment and that Paxton has maintained such robust support.
This should be a nadir, but lacking principles upon which to stand, Paxton is in a constant free fall.
A left-leaning government watchdog group has called for Sen. Angela Paxton to recuse herself from any proceedings regarding her husband’s impeachment in the Senate.
There were few at the Capitol on Friday visibly in support of Paxton. https://t.co/BamcPK4ctg
— Texas Tribune (@TexasTribune) May 26, 2023
Hoping for better luck tomorrow, maybe?
Texas AG Ken Paxton invites supporters to rally at state Capitol to protest vote to impeach https://t.co/MtwCVMmTdz
— KTAL NBC 6 News (@NBC6News) May 26, 2023
… Paxton, a 60-year-old Republican, 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 on Jan. 6, 2021, when a mob violently stormed the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C. Paxton, who spoke at the rally in Washington that proceed the insurrection, called his supporters to the Texas Capitol on a day when the governor is supposed to deliver a Memorial Day address to lawmakers there…
I’m sure the Proud Boys, Oath Keepers, and related miscreants are now scrambling around, working the phone trees and trying to find rental buses, but recent TFG rallies seem to indicate a certain Fool me once… wariness, so I for one would not get my hopes up.