Ken Paxton was acquitted at his impeachment trial, but he still faces legal troubles

For years, the powers and protections that come with being Texas’ top lawyer have helped Ken Paxton fend off ethics complains, criminal charges and an FBI investigation.

With the Texas Senate’s Saturday vote to acquit Paxton of corruption charges at his impeachment trial the Republican has once again demonstrated his rare political resilience. And he retains the shield of the attorney general's office in legal battles still to come.

After being cleared, Paxton, 60, thanked his lawyers for “exposing the absurdity” of the “false allegations” against him, and he promised to resume doing legal battle with the administration of President Joe Biden.

"The weaponization of the impeachment process to settle political differences is not only wrong, it is immoral and corrupt," he said in a statement. “Now that this shameful process is over, my work to defend our constitutional rights will resume.”

Back in office, Paxton nonetheless still faces serious risk on three fronts: an ongoing a federal investigation into the same allegations that led to his impeachment; a disciplinary proceeding over his effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election; and felony securities fraud charges dating to 2015.

Here's what to know about each.

THE FEDERAL INVESTIGATION

Paxton came under FBI investigation in 2020 when eight of his top deputies reported him for allegedly breaking the law to help a wealthy donor, Austin real estate developer Nate Paul.

The former deputies' accusation that Paxton abused his power to help Paul were at the core of Paxton's impeachment. Lawmakers in the Texas House of Representatives say it was the still-open question of funding a $3.3 million settlement in a lawsuit brought by four of the deputies that sparked the impeachment investigation.

Several of Paxton's former deputies took the witness stand against him. They recounted going to the FBI and testified that the attorney general tried to help Paul fend of a separate FBI investigation

They also testified that Paul employed a woman with whom Paxton had an extramarital affair. Another former employee, Drew Wicker, said Paxton second-in-command later discouraged him from speaking with the FBI.

Paul was indicted in June on charges of making false statements to banks. He has pleaded not guilty and was not called to testify at the impeachment trial.

The federal investigation of Paxton has dragged on for years and was shifted in February from a prosecutors in Texas to ones in Washington, D.C. In August, federal prosecutors began using a grand jury in San Antonio to examine Paxton and Paul's dealings, according to two people with knowledge of the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because of secrecy rules around grand jury proceedings.

One said the grand jury heard from Wicker, Paxton’s former personal aide. At the impeachment trial, Wicker testified that he once heard a contractor tell Paxton he would need to check with “Nate” about the cost of renovations to the attorney general’s Austin home.

Paxton has consistently denied wrongdoing. One of his defense attorneys, Dan Cogdell, acknowledged in August that authorities were still interviewing witnesses but said the “case will go nowhere at the end of the day.”

THE SECURITIES FRAUD CASE

In 2015, Paxton was indicted on charges of defrauding investors in a Dallas-area tech startup by not disclosing he was being paid by the company, called Servergy, to recruit them. He faces five to 99 years in prison if convicted and has pleaded not guilty.

The indictments were handed up just months after Paxton was sworn in as attorney general. He won second and third terms despite them.

Paxton's trial has been delayed by legal debate over whether it should be heard in the Dallas area or Houston, changes in which judge would handle it and a protracted battle over how much the special prosecutors should get paid.

Weeks after the Republican-led Texas House voted to impeach Paxton, the state's high criminal court ruled his trial would proceed in Houston. The judge overseeing it said in August that she would set a trial date after the impeachment trial.

Cogdell said that month that if Paxton were removed from office it would open the possibility of him making a plea agreement in the case.

THE DISCIPLINARY HEARING

Also on hold during Paxton's impeachment trial was an ethics case brought by the state bar.

In 2020, Paxton asked the U.S. Supreme Court to, effectively, overturn then-President Donald Trump's electoral defeat by Joe Biden based on bogus claims of fraud. The high court threw out the request.

Afterward, the State Bar of Texas received a series of complaints alleging that Paxton and a deputy had committed processional misconduct with the suit. The bar didn't initially take up the complaints but later launched an investigation.

Last year, the bar sued seeking unspecified discipline for Paxton and his second-in-command, alleging they were “dishonest" with the Supreme Court.

Paxton dismissed the bar's suits as “meritless” political attacks. The attorney general's office has argued that because it is an executive branch agency and the bar is part of the judicial branch, the cases run afoul of separation of powers under the state constitution.

A judge overseeing the bar's case against the deputy, Brent Webster, accepted this argument. But he was reversed on appeal in July. That month, another court scheduled arguments in the disciplinary case against Paxton only to delay them when it became clear they would fall in the middle of his impeachment trial.

The attorney general's office continued to defend Paxton in the case even after he was suspended from office. If he's found to have violated ethics rules, Paxton faces the prospect of disbarment, suspension, or a lesser punishments.

FNC’s Janice Dean Calls For Cuomo To Be Impeached Immediately – Says He Covered Up Nursing Home Deaths To Sell His Book

Fox News meteorologist Janice Dean called for Governor Andrew Cuomo (D-NY) to be impeached today, claiming that he covered up the death toll in nursing homes because “he had a book to sell, a $4 million book.”

Dean Blasts Cuomo

While appearing on “Fox & Friends,” Dean said that Cuomo “would go on these interviews on television, when they would finally ask him the question about the nursing homes, he would give false information and he knew all along he was lying. So why did he and his top aides, including Melissa DeRosa, go to such great lengths to make sure that no one would find out the real total of the deaths? I think it’s because it’s criminal and he had a book to sell, a $4 million book.”

Related: Cuomo Now Being Investigated Over $4 Million Book Deal Celebrating His Pandemic Leadership, Janice Dean Calls It ‘Disgusting’

Not stopping there, Dean called on lawmakers to take action.

“Our lawmakers in Albany need to do something,” she added. “This whitewash of an impeachment is ridiculous. Go in there today and get it done. There are at least four investigations into this governor. How much more do you need to get him out?”

Dean Feels Relief 

This comes a day after Dean said she feels relief to see the tide finally start to turn against Cuomo after she spent nearly a year being “beaten down” as she desperately fought against him.

“I feel like all of these months, close to a year now, it feels like it finally is happening, that all of the things we’ve been yelling about and trying to shine a light on, it’s finally happening,” Dean told Fox News. “I really feel like he should go to jail. And all these people surrounding him that covered this up for so many months, they should go to jail.”

Dean has been fighting to get justice for her in-laws, who both died in New York nursing homes.

Related: Cuomo Admin Accused Of ‘Criminal Conspiracy’ Following Bombshell Report They ‘Stripped’ Data From Report On Nursing Home Deaths

‘We’re On The Side Of The Angels’

“It’s like I just have to think that my in-laws had a purpose. I always say, like, we’re on the side of the angels and you can’t deny that,” she said. “I feel like they’ve always helped me this whole year… just to give me the strength to continue to go on.”

“And, you know, people made fun of me in the beginning, even the Cuomo administration… like she’s nothing but the weather girl and what does she know?” Dean continued. “You know, sometimes the weather girl gets it right. And I do want justice for them. They deserve it.”

This piece was written by James Samson on April 29, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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Kamala Harris Refuses To Give Direct Answer After Being Asked If Trump Should Face Criminal Charges

Vice President Kamala Harris declined to give a direct answer on Wednesday morning when she was asked if former President Donald Trump should face criminal charges for his alleged role in the Capitol riots last month.

Kamala Harris Interviewed On ‘Today’

“The president was acquitted in the Senate trial,” said “Today” host Savannah Guthrie. “Mitch McConnell, the Republican leader, though, had some harsh words, saying he didn’t get away with anything yet, and that civil and criminal liability was still a possibility. I ask you — do you think that President Trump should be criminally charged?”

“You know, right now, Savannah, I’m focused on what we need to do to get relief to American families, and that is my highest priority,” Harris replied. “It is our administration’s highest priority. It is our job. It is the job we were elected to do, and that’s my focus.”

“But you’re a former prosecutor, so I have got to ask you, is that a strong case against the president, a criminal case that Mitch McConnell had raised as a possibility?” Guthrie pressed on.

“I haven’t reviewed the case through the lens of being a prosecutor,” Harris responded, dodging the question again. “I’m reviewing the case of COVID in America through the lens of being the vice president of America.”

Related: Abortion Provider Planned Parenthood “Excited” That Kamala Harris Is Vice President

Harris’ Past Comments Come Back To Haunt Her

Harris found herself in some hot water during Trump’s impeachment trial when past comments that she had made came back to haunt her, as Republicans claimed that she had incited violence in the past as well by encouraging racial riots and bailing out protests.

Senator Lindsey Graham (R-SC) went so far as to say that if Republicans take back the House, Harris could find herself being impeached,  based on the precedent Democrats set with their latest effort against Trump.

“If you use this model, I don’t know how Kamala Harris doesn’t get impeached if the Republicans take over the House, because she actually bailed out rioters and one of the rioters went back to the streets and broke somebody’s head open,” Graham said, according to Newsweek. “So we’ve opened Pandora’s Box here, and I’m sad for the country.”

Read Next: Whoopi Goldberg Claims Joe Manchin’s Attack On Kamala Harris Was ‘Bigoted’ – ‘Really Disrespectful’

This piece was written by James Samson on February 17, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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AOC Calls For Trump To Be Impeached – ‘We Came Close To Half Of The House Nearly Dying’

Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) spoke out on Sunday to call for President Donald Trump to be removed from office due to the Capitol riots last week.

AOC Calls For Trump To Be Impeached

“I absolutely believe that impeachment should be scheduled for several reasons,” Ocasio-Cortez said on Sunday while appearing on ABC’s “This Week.”

“One, of course, our main priority is to ensure the removal of Donald Trump as president of the United States,” she added. “Every minute and every hour that he’s in office represents a clear and present danger not just to the United States Congress but frankly to the country.”

“But in addition to removal, we’re also talking about complete barring of the president, of Donald Trump from running for office ever again and in addition to that, the potential ability to prevent pardoning himself from those charges that he was impeached for,” Ocasio-Cortez continued. 

Related: Nancy Pelosi: After ‘Armed Insurrection’ House Could Impeach Trump Again

AOC Doubles Down 

Not stopping there, Ocasio-Cortez doubled down as she talked about supporters of Trump storming the Capitol last Wednesday.

“We have to understand that what happened on Wednesday was insurrection against the United States,” she said. “That is what Donald J. Trump engaged in, and that is what those who stormed the Capitol engaged in. The process of healing is separate and, in fact, requires accountability. And so if we allow insurrection against the United States to happen with impunity, with no accountability, we are inviting it to happen again. That’s how serious it is.”

“I don’t believe that perhaps my colleagues weren’t in that room, perhaps my colleagues were not fully present for the events on Wednesday, but we came close to half of the House nearly dying on Wednesday,” Ocasio-Cortez added.

“If a foreign head of state, if another head of state came in and ordered an attack on the United States Congress, would we say that should not be prosecuted? Would we say there should be no response to that? No. It’s an act of insurrection,” she concluded. “It’s an act of hostility, and we must have accountability because, without it, it will happen again.”

Democrats are set to officially launch their latest impeachment effort on Monday.

Read Next: Pelosi Calls For Trump To Be Prosecuted – Dubs Him ‘Deranged, Unhinged, Dangerous’

This piece was written by James Samson on January 10, 2021. It originally appeared in LifeZette and is used by permission.

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Schiff: Lives Would Have Been Saved If Only Trump Had Been Impeached And Removed

Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA) made an outlandish claim that many American lives would have been saved from the coronavirus pandemic if only President Trump had been impeached and removed from office.

The House Intelligence Committee Chairman told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes that his inability (along with other impeachment managers) to convince the Senate that Trump was guilty and should be removed “haunts” him.

“I don’t think we had any idea how much damage he would go on to do in the months ahead,” Schiff claimed. “There are 50,000 Americans now who are dead, in significant part because of his incompetence, because of his inability to think beyond himself and put the country first.”

“I don’t think we would have ever anticipated that his brand of narcissism and his brand of incompetence would be so fatal to the American people,” he asserted.

RELATED: Ayanna Pressley Compares Trump’s Coronavirus Response To ‘War Crimes’

It Was Schiff’s Impeachment Charade That Cost Lives

There is a whole boatload of stupidity to unpack in those comments, not the least of which is that Schiff seems unaware – perhaps because he was focused on impeaching rather than governing – that the President had already taken significant steps to slow the spread of the virus.

While the resistance party was plotting their impeachment gambit, Trump was setting up a coronavirus task force, ordering more testing and ventilators, restricting travel from countries known to be battling the virus, and declaring a national emergency.

The first reported case of coronavirus in the United States came on January 21st. The impeachment charade ended in the Senate on February 5th.

Is Schiff really under the impression that Trump’s ouster and Vice President Mike Pence’s takeover of the presidency (he is Chair of the coronavirus task force) would have led to different results? Especially when it had already been in the country for two weeks at least, likely longer?

RELATED: Schiff Vows To ‘Dive Deep’ Into Trump Coronavirus Investigation

Schiff Lied, People Died

Representative Dan Crenshaw (R-TX), has already debunked the claim that more should have been done by President Trump in the month of February.

“You keep calling February this lost month, it’s really not,” Crenshaw told HBO star Bill Maher previously. “It’s just an easy, cheap accusation because there’s no big bold moves taken like there was in January or like there was in March.”

Crenshaw noted that even as of March 3rd, there were still only 100 coronavirus cases in the United States and that Americans weren’t going to accept a lockdown at that point.

Which makes Schiff’s point moot.

Anybody with a working set of eyes and ears is aware that it was the impeachment hoax that took Congress’s focus off of the coronavirus.

It was Schiff and his Democrat colleagues who bogged down an entire nation with their little impeachment dreams while the coronavirus was beginning to flourish.

Former Secret Service agent Dan Bongino responded to Schiff’s claims, spitting fire on Twitter:

Known liar, clown, fraud, oxygen thief, serial hoaxster, and all-around garbage-person, sleazy Adam Schiff is doing everything he can to make this awful situation worse. There aren’t many people walking this planet who’ve done more damage than this sleazeball.

Buckle up. He’s about to do much further damage.

Schiff vowed two weeks ago to conduct a thorough investigation into the Trump administration’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic.

“We are diving deeply into what does the intelligence community know, what resources we would bring there, and what do we need to do prospectively to better protect the country in the future,” he announced.

That means another investigation – we’ve already endured Russia, Ukraine, emoluments, etc. – to drag America down even further.

While the President will be working diligently to revive America from the economic devastation wrought by this pandemic, Democrats will be working feverishly to slow him down yet again.

Meaning they will have even more blood on their hands when victims of suicide due to the financial crisis, or domestic violence victims due to lockdown, suffer while Democrats play politics.

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