It was an afternoon of high drama in the Texas House just two days before the Texas Legislature adjourns, one that ended with a historic 121-23 vote to impeach Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
A succession of state representatives spoke for and against the impeachment resolution, but most Republican House members joined Democrats in approving the impeachment resolution. It will take two-thirds of the Texas Senate, which consists of 19 Republicans and 12 Democrats, to convict Paxton and permanently remove him from office. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott will appoint an acting attorney general to serve until the Senate trial concludes.
A day of judgment has been a long time coming for Paxton, who in 2015 was indicted on a felony securities charge, yet he has repeatedly evaded trial. I am unaware of any other Texas citizen who has managed to avoid trial and skirt serious criminal charges for eight years.
Paxton in 2020 led a widely dismissed effort to help then-President Donald Trump stop Joe Biden from taking office as president, first by appearing as a speaker at the Jan. 6 rally in Washington that led to a mob storming the U.S. Capitol. He recruited several other red state attorneys general to support his lawsuit that falsely alleged widespread voter fraud. That effort had no basis in reality or legal standing and was summarily rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court.
It came as no great surprise last week when Paxton, facing impeachment, compared himself to Trump.
Long before Paxton’s firing of deputies who confronted him over alleged bribery and abuse of office — triggering a wrongful termination lawsuit under the Texas Whistleblowers Act — Paxton had become the poster boy for all that’s wrong with Texas politics. He won reelection as state attorney general twice while under a cloud of criminal allegations.
His success at the polls demonstrates how many Republican voters have come to place ideology above character, ethical conduct and upholding the oath of office. Much of the evidence presented by House investigators last week was public knowledge before Paxton was reelected a second time in November by 10 percentage points over his Democratic challenger.
Paxton’s public call for House Speaker Dade Phelan’s resignation last Tuesday on a charge that he was intoxicated May 19 while presiding over the House at the end of a 14-hour session now seems like a final act of desperation.
Readers can view the 44-second video of Phelan slurring his words while wielding the gavel and draw their own conclusions. The Republican speaker certainly owes the public a response to the allegations. One day after Paxton’s public call for Phelan’s resignation, the Republican-led House General Investigating Committee unanimously approved 20 articles of impeachment, setting the stage for Saturday’s dramatic debate and vote. The articles chronicle a stunning years-long pattern of lawbreaking and unethical behavior.
“This gentleman is no longer fit for service or for office,” committee member Rep. Ann Johnson (D-Houston) told the House on Saturday. “Either this is going to be the beginning of the end of his criminal reign, or God help us, with the harms that will come to all Texans if he’s allowed to stay the top cop on the take, if millions of Texans can’t trust us to do the right thing, right here, right now.”
Rep. Charlie Geren (R-Fort Worth), one of three Republicans on the five-member panel, called out Paxton for contacting Republican House members to “personally threaten them with political consequences in the next election” if they supported impeachment, the Texas Tribune reported.
Paxton’s impeachment and suspension is a political scandal that could change the face of Texas politics, where Republicans have held a death grip on all statewide elected offices for three decades.
For years, Abbott and Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and most other elected Republicans, including Trump and Sens. Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, have been conspicuously silent on Paxton’s legal travails and chaotic behavior as attorney general. Trump and Cruz both condemned the impeachment process last week. Such blatant partisan dismissal doesn’t appear to be the same easy option for Abbott and Patrick.
House investigators concluded that Paxton took bribes and abused his powers as attorney general to repeatedly interfere in the federal investigation of his friend, major donor and troubled Austin real estate developer Nate Paul. They also charged Paxton with retaliating against senior deputies who confronted him about his alleged crimes and misconduct.
One option for Paxton now is to resign, perhaps in return for his agreement not to seek a return to public office and if the House agrees to reverse its opposition to underwriting with public funds the $3.3 million settlement Paxton has offered four of his improperly fired senior deputies to resolve the wrongful termination lawsuit and his subsequent public ridiculing of the plaintiffs.
While Paxton has always reacted to his own legal travails by going on the attack, the Senate trial exposes him to public examination of how Paxton persuaded Paul to find employment in Austin for an unidentified San Antonio woman with whom he was having an extramarital affair to prevent disclosure of the affair and to allow it to continue, according to Saturday House testimony.
A Senate trial also could prove problematic for Paxton’s wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton (R-Plano), since Paul paid for what Johnson noted was at least tens of thousands of dollars in home improvements to the Paxtons’ Austin residence in return for the attorney general helping him illegally access confidential federal and state documents relating to investigations into Paul’s business practices, according to House investigators. It’s hard to believe she was unaware of the quid pro quo.
Sen. Paxton presumably will face political pressure to recuse herself from any vote to absolve or remove her husband from office.
Even if Paxton resigns or is eventually convicted in the Senate, he will still face further legal proceedings. The FBI, House investigators confirmed, is investigating Paxton for misconduct as attorney general, and there is the still-pending securities fraud indictment. Now that Paxton appears to be politically toxic and legally vulnerable, he might finally face his day in criminal court on the 8-year-old felony indictment as well as any new misconduct charges.
It’s no longer far-fetched to imagine Paxton being forced out of office and losing his license to practice law. It’s no longer far-fetched to think he will be convicted in criminal court and, like former Attorney General Dan Morales before him, sent to prison.
