Impeachment trial of Texas AG Paxton nears end, could see him removed

[September 15, 2023]  By Brad Brooks

(Reuters) - Closing arguments were set for Friday in the impeachment trial of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, following eight days of testimony from whistle blowers alleging corruption and defenders saying he did nothing wrong.

Paxton, a conservative Republican firebrand who is strongly aligned with former U.S. President Donald Trump, faces 16 articles of impeachment in the trial, in which the Republican-dominated Texas Senate serves as the jury. Paxton has called the trial a political witch hunt.

Paxton, who has been suspended from office pending the outcome of the trial, faces permanent ouster if at least two-thirds of the Texas Senate -- which includes 19 Republicans, among them his wife, who is not allowed to vote, and 12 Democrats -- agree to convict on any count. It is the first impeachment proceeding against a statewide office holder in Texas in over a century.

Following closing arguments on Friday morning, senators will deliberate in private for as long as they wish. Their votes will be made public following their closed-door meeting.

Paxton is accused by several former top aides of corruption and abuse of power, mostly in relation to official actions allegedly carried out to protect a wealthy political donor who was under a federal investigation, and to cover up an extramarital affair.

The trial has exposed rifts in the Texas Republican Party between the social conservatives who have held sway for the past decade and back Paxton, and the traditional conservatives who say his actions have brought shame on the party and the state. Paxton was overwhelmingly impeached by the Republican-dominated Texas House in May.

Paxton, who faces a separate state securities fraud trial and is also under investigation by the FBI, has been dogged by corruption allegations since his first election in 2014. Still, he easily defeated traditional conservative candidate George P. Bush in a primary and a Democrat for re-election last November.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks during a news conference after the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments in President Joe Biden's bid to rescind a Trump-era immigration policy that forced migrants to stay in Mexico to await U.S. hearings on their asylum claims, in Washington, U.S., April 26, 2022. REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz/File Photo

Paxton's legal team has painted the former top aides who accused him of corruption as mutinous political centrists. The prosecution put a parade of the aides who became whistle blowers on the stand, each of whom detailed their conservative bona fides before testifying about what they witnessed in the attorney general's office that led them to take their accusations to the FBI in 2020.

Paxton's lawyers countered with current state officials who testified that the activities that raised suspicions among the whistle blowers were within his powers as attorney general.

As attorney general, Paxton backed powerful oil and gas interests and pursued restrictions on abortion and transgender rights. He has led Republican state opposition to the policies of Democratic presidents, and filed an unsuccessful lawsuit seeking to overturn Trump's 2020 election defeat.

Paxton's impeachment was triggered by his request that House lawmakers approve a $3.3 million settlement he reached with former staff members who were fired after accusing him of abuse of office. State lawmakers did not fund the settlement.

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