The Texas House of Representatives on Monday delivered articles of impeachment against Attorney General Ken Paxton to the state Senate.
The delivery came after the GOP-led House named the board of managers – comprising five Democrats and seven Republicans – who will oversee the impeachment proceedings. Rep. Andrew Murr, R-Junction, is leading the board, The Dallas Morning News reported.
The House approved 20 articles of impeachment on sweeping allegations of wrongdoing against Paxton that have trailed the state's top lawyer for years, including abuse of office and bribery. The vote immediately suspended Paxton from office.
The House needed just a simple majority of its 149 members to impeach Paxton, and the final 121-23 vote was a landslide. But the threshold for conviction in the Senate trial is higher, requiring a two-thirds majority of its 31 members.
TEXAS GOV. GREG ABBOTT SENDS FIRST BUS OF MIGRANTS TO COLORADO
If that happens, Paxton would be permanently barred from holding office in Texas. Anything less means Paxton is acquitted and can resume his third term as attorney general.
Paxton bitterly criticized the chamber's investigation as "corrupt," secret and conducted so quickly that he and his lawyers were not allowed to mount a defense. He also called Republican House Speaker Dade a "liberal."
The AG's office tweeted Saturday that the impeachment was based on "totally false claims."
"After an internal investigation, the OAG retained an outside law firm to further investigate, which culminated in a report. The OAG offered it to the House, but they refused," the AG's office said.
The impeachment charges include bribery related to one of Paxton's donors, Austin real estate developer Nate Paul, allegedly employing the woman with whom he had an extra-matrial affair in exchange for legal help.
Another Republican senator with a potential conflict is Sen. Bryan Hughes. The House impeachment articles accuse Paxton of using Hughes as a "straw requestor" for a legal opinion used to protect Paul from foreclosure on several properties.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is expected to set a trial date in the Senate and name committee members to establish rules that will govern the impeachment proceedings. The Senate will ultimately decide whether Paxton stays in office. Patrick, who is president of the Senate, will preside as judge.
Fox News Digital has contacted Phelan, Murr, and Paxton for further comment.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Donald Trump had repeatedly warned Republicans against backing the impeachment of Attorney General Paxton, arguing it was a 'very unfair process."
The 121-23 vote included overwhelming Republican support.
I hope you didn’t miss Chitown Kev’s roundup from yesterday, and the two big stories are still the two big stories. But other things happened as well.
I was told not to tweet this until the houses adjourned for fear of jinxing it, but the Minnesota legislature just completed what is probably the most productive session anywhere in the country since probably the New Deal. Sweeping bills and reforms across every area of life.Minnesota’s Democratic-Farmer-Labor part[y] accompanied this monumental session with a six-vote margin in the House and a bare one-vote majority in the Senate. The scale of their achievement cannot be overstated.
It’s great punctuation to the concept that if you want better deals from your electeds, vote Republicans out and Democrats in and get better electeds.
Are you disappointed in the debt ceiling deal or your election choices? Stop thinking of your vote as a reward for good behavior or for agreeing with you on all things and start thinking of it as a hardball message. Think SCOTUS, then think everything else from Wisconsin to Michigan to—as above—Minnesota.
Confused about why Ken Paxton, why now? Nancy Goldstein/Texas Observer can help:
PAXTON IS BURNING
Has accountability finally come to Texas? Don't hold your breath.
What the public saw—regardless of the lawmakers’ intentions—was an eruption into the open of fissures that have more to do with pride and power than justice. A cross between the state’s largest intra-party catfight and its most public self-inflicted gunshot wound, as the bad blood between Paxton and Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan, who serve as proxies for Trump and Republicans trying to distance themselves from Trump in advance of next year’s elections, finally spilled out into the open.
As for Ken Paxton, the impeached TX AG, the meta message is this: the process argument Paxton’s defenders tried (and the strong arming Paxton tried) failed.
Of course, it’s temporary removal for Paxton, pending how his wife votes in the Senate (hey, it’s Texas). But it is a reprieve.
All eyes on Sen. Angela Paxton as Texas Senate takes up her husband’s removal
Ken Paxton helped elect his wife, Angela, to the state Senate. That chamber will now consider whether to remove him from the attorney general’s office. She has not said whether she will recuse herself.
On the campaign trail, she’s known for performing a version of an Al Dexter song, singing, “I’m a pistol-packin’ mama, and my husband sues Obama, I’m a pistol-packin’ mama, yes I am.”
Now that pistol-packin’ mama is one of 31 senators who hold her husband’s fate in their hands. It’s unclear what her role should or would be in the trial; while the Texas Constitution says legislators should recuse themselves from matters in which they have a personal stake, it also says all senators shall be present for an impeachment trial.
Angela Paxton did not respond to a request for comment. All eyes are now on her, to see how she handles this awkward moment with her colleagues.
Meanwhile:
David Rothkopf/Daily Beast:
Trump and Putin Are in Deep Trouble and Need Each Other More Than Ever
Russia’s getting battered by Ukraine, and the law is finally catching up with Trump. As 2024 approaches, the two disgraced allies have common interests.
Once again the interests of Trump and Putin are aligned, but this time the stakes for both are much higher than they were in 2016. That should worry us all. It should worry us a lot.
DeSantis campaign tells nervous donors in leaked audio that voters will care more about a recession and Biden's age than the governor's anti-abortion record
- Leaked audio from FloridaPolitics.com revealed that donors were concerned about DeSantis' abortion ban.
- The DeSantis campaign shared talking points with fundraisers over how to discuss the issue.
- They said it would be less important to voters than Biden's age and predicted a recession.
And what if there’s no recession? And what if Trump’s behavior (and the GOP writ large) repels more than it attracts? or that Biden’s age is less of an issues once he’s out on the campaign trail?
Remember, he’s not COVID restricted now (and that played a big election role).
Nikki Haley let the Confederate flag fly until a massacre forced her hand
She told Confederate groups that flag was about “heritage,” and her campaign said efforts to remove it from the State House grounds were “desperate and irresponsible”
And, as the daughter of Indian immigrants, she suggested that her identity as a minority woman could help her take on the NAACP, which was leading a boycott of the state until the Confederate flag was taken off the State House grounds.
“I will work to talk to them about the heritage and how this is not something that is racist,” Haley said in a discussion captured on video.
As for the other big story, Twitter still has the best takes (because Twitter content is not written by Elon Musk):
I don't want to be one of those people, but pending passage, this looks like Biden played his hand well and McCarthy didn't. Oh, the Republicans get stuff, but that was inevitable. They control the House. What they've done is get a little bit and given up their leverage for the time being.
That's a deal the WH will be satisfied with. They called the House Freedom Caucus bluff and said we aren't negotiating with you. We're negotiating with old fashioned institutionalists. Find me some, preferably not Speaker McCarthy, but him if we have to. We'll ignore HFC and pretend they aren't there.
It's far from ideal, not "good' in the sense of good policy, but good in the sense of good politics. It went from an existential catastrophe to a "yawn - what's happening in TX, anyways?"
Again, I suspect the WH is happy with that.
The 14th amendment and the platinum coin had their role, but it wasn’t as a viable alternative to an old fashioned compromise that neutered the GOP House for the rest of their term (they have no more hostages left). It was a “In case of House Freedom Caucus agenda, break glass” safety feature.
And there’s this political reality:
Michelle Cottle/New York Times:
Holding Out for a Hero in the G.O.P.
At this point, it seems a little gratuitous to pick at the scab of Gov. Ron DeSantis’s not-so-dazzling presidential campaign opening. Let us just stipulate that when your long-anticipated announcement jump-starts #DeSaster trending on social media, things could have gone better.
The feeble rollout wouldn’t much matter if the Florida governor were otherwise dominating the Republican primary race, or even holding steady. But he isn’t. Slipping poll numbers, questionable policy moves, the people skills of a Roomba — his multiplying red flags have landed the Republican Party in the odd position of having not one but two problematic front-runners: its original MAGA king and the lead runner in its Anyone But Trump lane.
So where does the race go from here? Most likely nowhere new, unless someone steps up with a fresh approach to the Trump problem. Because so far, the pack of pretenders to Donald Trump’s throne reeks of weakness. And nothing delights the MAGA king more than curb-stomping the weak.
Read the whole thing from George Takei, worth it.
It’s Memorial Day and the beginning of summer.
Best to everyone.