AUSTIN, TEXAS (AP) – Texas’ House of Representatives was set to hold historic impeachment proceedings against Attorney General Ken Paxton as the scandal-plagued Republican called on supporters to protest a vote that could lead to his ouster.
The House scheduled an afternoon start for debate on whether to impeach and suspend Paxton from office over allegations of bribery, unfitness for office and abuse of public trust – just some of the accusations that have trailed Texas’ top lawyer for most of his three terms.
The hearing sets up what could be a remarkably sudden downfall for one of the GOP’s most prominent legal combatants, who in 2020 asked the United States (US) Supreme Court to overturn President Joe Biden’s electoral defeat of Donald Trump. Only two officials in Texas’ nearly 200-year history have been impeached.
Paxton, 60, has called the impeachment proceedings “political theater” based on “hearsay and gossip, parroting long-disproven claims,” and an attempt to disenfranchise voters who reelected him in November. On Friday, he asked supporters “to peacefully come let their voices be heard at the Capitol”.
Paxton has been under FBI investigation for years over accusations that he used his office to help a donor and was separately indicted on securities fraud charges in 2015, though he has yet to stand trial. Until this week his fellow Republicans have taken a muted stance on the allegations.
Impeachment requires just a simple majority in the House. That means only a small fraction of its 85 Republicans would need to join 64 Democrats in voting against him.
If impeached, Paxton would be removed from office pending a Senate trial, and it would fall to Governor Greg Abbott to appoint an interim replacement. Final removal would require a two-thirds vote in the Senate, where Paxton’s wife’s, Angela, is a member.
Texas’ top elected Republicans have been notably quiet about Paxton this week.
But some party members began to rally around him on Friday, with the state GOP chairman, Matt Rinaldi, calling the process a “sham”.
In one sense, Paxton’s political peril arrived with dizzying speed: The House committee’s investigation of him came to light on Tuesday, and by Thursday lawmakers issued 20 articles of impeachment.
But to Paxton’s detractors, the rebuke was years overdue. In 2014, he admitted to violating Texas securities law, and a year later he was indicted on securities fraud charges in his hometown near Dallas, accused of defrauding investors in a tech startup.
He pleaded not guilty to two felony counts carrying a potential sentence of five to 99 years.
He opened a legal defence fund and accepted USD100,000 from an executive whose company was under investigation by Paxton’s office for Medicaid fraud. An additional USD50,000 was donated by an Arizona retiree whose son Paxton later hired to a high-ranking job but was soon fired after displaying child pornography in a meeting.