Last month Republican Ken Paxton was impeached by the Republican-controlled Texas House of Representatives and suspended from holding the office of Texas Attorney General. The House voted 121–23 in favor of impeachment.
This summer the state Senate will hold an impeachment trial for Paxton where he could be permanently removed from office.
Paxton’s impeachment became national news and triggered speculation about why Texas Republicans would turn on one of their own? The process of holding Paxton accountable for his alleged wrongdoing became a display of GOP party infighting.
Paxton fired back at House Speaker Dade Phelan and called for his resignation, saying the Republican from Beaumont was "in an obviously intoxicated state" while presiding over the House. Phelan did not step down.
Paxton had long suffered legal problems and accusations of wrongdoing, but the Texas House didn’t get involved until February 2023 when Paxton asked the Appropriations subcommittee to pay $3.3 million for a settlement of the lawsuit brought by whistleblowers from his office over the Attorney General’s “wrongful conduct.”
Soon after that the Republican-led Texas House General Investigating Committee began to investigate Paxton, and in May released a report concluding that Paxton had committed various crimes, including felonies, while in office.
On May 25, 2023, the investigating committee unanimously recommended that Paxton be impeached. The committee filed 20 articles of impeachment, the heart of which assert that Paxton abused his office for the benefit of a large political donor Nate Paul.
Incidentally Paul was recently arrested by the FBI and was charged with 8 felony counts of making false statements to financial institutions.
Paxton also complained that “highly partisan Democrat lawyers" were behind the impeachment and he called it a "politically motivated sham." He called on his supporters to peacefully march on the state Capitol in protest; however, no crowd appeared. Paxton also said that "the RINOs in the Texas Legislature are now on the same side as Joe Biden." He dismissed the charges as baseless and said he could explain away all of the allegations if he was given an opportunity. Republican House members who supported Paxton during the impeachment debate mostly claimed that the process was rushed and unfair to Paxton.
Paxton was impeached on May 27, allowing him to become only the third official and the second statewide officeholder in Texas history to be impeached, after Governor James E. Ferguson in 1917.
After the impeachment, the Texas House of Representatives appointed 12 representatives to serve as impeachment managers at the impeachment trial in the 31-member State Senate.
The group of impeachment managers is led by Republican Representative Andrew Murr and Democratic Representative Ann Johnson. The House Committee on General Investigating also hired high-profile Texas attorneys Rusty Hardin and Dick DeGuerin as impeachment prosecutors.
Guest:
Scott Braddock, editor of The Quorum Report.
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*This interview will be recorded on Wednesday, June 14.
