The Texas Senate is deliberating at Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial
A conviction requires a two-thirds majority, or 21 votes
TEXAS CITY, Texas (AP) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial began Friday, with a Senate jury deciding whether the embattled Republican should be removed from office over corruption allegations that have dogged him for years.
The jury of mostly Republican senators met in secret for about eight hours before voting. The hearings were scheduled to resume on Saturday.
The deliberations brought Paxton, whose three terms in office have been marred by scandal and criminal charges, closer to a defining test of his political endurance following an extraordinary impeachment driven by his fellow Republicans and has widened party divisions in America’s largest red state. Paxton has raised his national profile by hurling his office into divisive courtroom battles across the country for nearly a decade, earning praise from Donald Trump and the GOP’s hard right.
Impeachment managers, including Paxton’s former friends, made one final push to convict Texas’ top lawyer. They argued that the time had come to cut ties between the state and the Republican Party.
“If we don’t keep public officials from abusing the powers of their office, then frankly, no one can,” Republican state Rep. Andrew Murr, who helped lead the impeachment in the Texas House, said in closing arguments.
Paxton, if convicted, would be Texas’ first statewide official convicted on impeachment charges in more than a century. A decision could be issued later on Friday.
Paxton’s lawyer, Tony Buzbee, unleashed an angry and defiant rebuttal on a diverse cast of figures both inside and outside the Texas Capitol, mocking a Texas Ranger who warned Paxton he faced indictment and another accuser who cried on the witness stand.
Buzbee, playing on Republican divisions, portrayed the impeachment as a plot orchestrated by an old guard of GOP rivals. He singled out George P. Bush, the nephew of former President George W. Bush who is running against Paxton in the Republican primary in 2022, to punctuate a blistering closing argument in which he questioned the integrity of FBI agents and railed against Texas’ most famous political dynasty.
“I would suggest to you that this is a political witch hunt,” Buzbee said. “I would argue that this trial has exposed, for all to see, a partisan fight within the Republican Party.”
Paxton, who had only attended the first few hours of the trial up until Friday, sat at the defense table and sipped from a cup, occasionally picking up his cellphone.
His reappearance did not go unnoticed.
“He hasn’t bothered to show up for the entire trial,” Murr said. “Clearly, he believes he can get away with this.”
Paxton’s wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, sat across the room from him. She was required to attend the entire trial but was barred from participating in deliberations or voting on her husband’s political fate.
Three of Paxton’s former deputies who reported him to the FBI in 2020, accusing him of breaking the law to help Austin real estate developer Nate Paul, were in the Senate gallery. All of them, including former Texas Ranger David Maxwell, testified.
Their whistleblower accounts sparked an FBI investigation, which will continue regardless of the outcome of the case. According to two people with knowledge of the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to the proceeding’s secrecy rules, federal prosecutors investigating Paxton testified before a grand jury in San Antonio in August.
According to one source, the grand jury heard from Drew Wicker, Paxton’s former personal aide. Wicker testified during the impeachment trial that he once heard a contractor tell Paxton that he would need to check with “Nate” about the cost of renovations to the attorney general’s Austin home.
Paul was charged in June with making false statements to banks in order to obtain more than $170 million in loans. He has entered a not guilty plea.
During closing arguments, the defense told senators that there was either no evidence or not enough to prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt. In contrast, the House impeachment managers went through specific documents and played clips of testimony from the deputies who reported Paxton to the FBI.
One of Paxton’s former friends, Republican state Rep. Jeff Leach, delivered the closing argument, saying he “loved” his former political mentor and that they attended church together. Nonetheless, he told senators, Paxton deserved to be punished.
One of the impeachment articles focuses on Paxton’s alleged extramarital affair with Laura Olson, a Paul employee. It claims that Paul’s hiring of Olson was a bribe. She was summoned to the witness stand but never testified. According to another report, the developer also bribed Paxton by paying for his home renovations.
The outcome will be decided by 30 of the 31 state senators, the majority of whom are Republicans. Conviction on any of the 16 articles of impeachment requires a two-thirds majority, which means that if all 12 Democrats vote to convict, nine Republicans must join them.
Deliberations will take place in private. Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has stated that if necessary, the trial will continue through the weekend.
Trump voiced his support for Paxton again on Thursday, calling the impeachment “shameful” in a social media post.
In the face of legal problems, Trump has fanned the flames of his supporters’ distrust of the FBI for years. Buzbee leaned into those reservations on Friday, and his words appeared to be aimed at an audience larger than the senators in the room at times.
“Do we believe that the FBI is always on the up and up?” he asked. “Or can we all agree that they sometimes pick and choose who they go after?”
Paxton, like Trump, is facing a slew of legal issues. In addition to the federal investigation into the same allegations that led to his impeachment, he is facing a bar disciplinary proceeding for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election and has yet to stand trial on state securities fraud charges dating back to 2015.
In the state case, he pleaded not guilty, but his lawyers have said that removal from office may open the door to a plea agreement.
