Members of the Texas Senate Texas are back at the Capitol today for the impeachment trial of Attorney General Ken Paxton. Voting began at approximately 11:15 a.m. CT. He was eventually acquitted on 16 articles around 1 p.m. CT. Senators also granted a motion to dismiss the remaining of the 20 articles. Watch the live stream here:
"Senators, I would once again like to thank you for doing your work," said Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick, who called the trial an "historic" event.
They spent most of Friday afternoon and part of Friday evening debating the charges against him after both sides made their closing arguments Friday morning.
"Make no mistake, this is not an easy vote for you. It shouldn't be. It wasn't for me. This will, if you're like me, be the hardest vote...the most difficult vote...the heaviest vote that you will ever cast in your time in the Legislature," said State Senator Jeff Leach, R-Plano, Friday. "The 16 votes that each of you will cast will be very personal. They should be. We should treat the heaviness and the historic nature of this moment with the weight that it deserves. Senators, I certainly have done so."
Paxton was accused of misusing the power of his office to help Nate Paul, a wealthy campaign donor who was being investigated by the FBI. He was facing 16 articles that accuse him of bribery and corruption. It would have taken a vote of 21 Senators to convict Paxton on any one of those 16 counts.
Senators began leaving the Capitol shortly before 8 p.m. Friday night.
Lieutenant Governor Patrick said they will return at 9 a.m. on Saturday and stay until 8 p.m. Saturday night if necessary. If there's no verdict on Saturday, they will return at noon on Sunday.
"You have serious work to do," Lt, Gov. Patrick told Senators.
"I believe that you will do it in a serious and responsible fashion."
If Senators didn't reach a verdict this weekend, they would have been sequestered. Lt. Gov. Patrick told Senators he could have required them to sleep in their offices at the Capitol until they were ready to take a public vote.