The five-member GOP-led investigative committee met Wednesday to discuss the allegations of wrongdoing against Paxton, a fellow Republican and the state’s top lawyer
A timeline of his many, many legal troubles going back years. Somehow the person in charge of the law in Texas never seems to make it to trial…
There’s also some conversation about this in the “Trump enablers” thread in the Pit.
The expectation is that the Texas House will vote to impeach him this weekend. Under the Texas Constitution, if impeached, Paxton is temporarily removed from office until he is tried in the Texas Senate. But the Legislature is set to adjourn on Monday (the Texas Legislature only meets for five months every two years). It’s not clear when the Senate would reconvene for the trial. In the meantime, Governor Greg Abbott would be able to appoint an interim AG to carry out the duties of the office until Paxton’s trial is resolved.
In theory, what if he just ignored the impeachment?
Once he’s impeached, constitutionally he no longer is able to exercise the powers of the Attorney General. His deputy did raise a potential objection to the impeachment – state law says that, “a state officer may not be removed from office for an act the officer may have committed before the officer’s election to office.” The deputy argued that means his most recent election – i.e. last November – and the acts he’s being impeached for took place during his previous terms as AG.
So I’m assuming he’ll try for an injunction from being removed from office until the court rules if his impeachment is legal.
Maybe. It’s a terribly weak argument – the impeachment process (including the suspension from office requirement) is in the Texas Constitution, and a statute can’t override that. I’d be shocked if a court was willing to grant him any relief.
What’s interesting about this whole situation is how completely friendless Paxton is right now. Nobody’s speaking up for him – Abbott and Patrick have been silent, the state GOP chairman as well. There seems to be a consensus among state Republicans that they’re sick of this idiot.
I like the part where Paxton is upset that fellow Republicans are messing with him, instead of paying attention to important stuff like “school choice”.
Not sure if any of the linked articles mentioned this tidbit, but Ken Paxton’s wife, Angela, is a member of the Texas Senate.
In true GOP fashion, she will probably not recuse herself from the trial in the Senate.
Considering that one of the charges is that a donor bribed him in part by giving a job to Paxton’s mistress, maybe we should hope Angela doesn’t recuse.
Why the hell did it take so long though? He’s clearly not suitable for being the attorney general, having been indicted for securities fraud, had a SEC civil enforcement action filed against him, been accused of stifling a whistleblower, and had ethics complaints against him.
I’d have thought any one of those would have been damning for a mere legislator, never mind the Attorney General. And all of those were WHILE HE WAS IN OFFICE.
Yet for some unfathomable reason, the Texas GOP is just now deciding they’re fed up and going to impeach him. This should have happened eight years ago on his initial indictment, not eight years later after he’s had a chance to rack up all that other BS.
Republicans were OK with Paxton’s sleaze as long as it didn’t impact them. The catalyst seems to be that he reached a settlement with the whistleblowers he fired that was contingent on the Legislature appropriating public money to pay for it. That really pissed off a lot of Republican legislators, because now they were getting dragged into his mess.
This sums up so much that is wrong in this country:
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. An additional $50,000 was donated by an Arizona retiree whose son Paxton later hired to a high-ranking job but was soon fired after trying to make a point by displaying child pornography in a meeting.
It will be ironic if he goes to trial for corruption, and it turns out that the only corrupt thing that they can prove is the donations to his defense fund.
Beat up on this guy yet Trump & Clarence Thomas’ grotesquely flagrant corruption passes by republicans with scarcely a murmur.
The Texas House will take up Paxton’s impeachment at 1:00 on Saturday.
If they’re going into adjournment on Monday, this all feels pretty pre-meditated and predetermined. I’m not feeling like we’re going to hit any surprises on this. The man’s going to be put on leave and the Senate is going to hope that the judicial system takes care of it before they have to assemble again, to debate it.
Fait accompli.
He’s giving a hastily announced press conference in a few minutes.
Edit: Eh, just standard Trumpian “I’m the victim of a conspiracy by the establishment” rhetoric.
I would expect no less – and no more.
How awful do you have to be that the Texas Republicans not only noticed but cared?
Wow.