Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been cleared on all counts in the impeachment proceedings against him. The Texas Senate, acting as the jury in the case, took a series of votes starting Saturday morning.
"Attorney General Ken Paxton is headed back to office. He has been acquitted," said reporter Chris Fox in Austin during live continuing coverage on KRLD.
Impeaching Paxton would have required a two-thirds vote in the Senate. The Texas Senate has 19 Republicans and 12 Democrats. Paxton is a member of the Republican Party. He was not present during the vote.
"The Attorney General is removed from office if he's convicted on just one of the articles," Lt. Governor Dan Patrick said during the proceedings.
The votes in the Senate did not fall exactly along party lines. Some Republicans repeatedly voted for conviction on several counts, while some Democrats voted to acquit on some of the counts. A conviction would have required a vote of 21 Senators. Paxton's spouse, State Senator Angela Paxton, was allowed to be present during the proceedings but was not permitted to vote.
On some counts, the vote was 14 to convict and 16 to acquit, meaning some Senators crossed party lines. State Senator Robert Nichols, a Republican, voted "yes" to impeach on several counts but "no" on others. State Senator Borris Miles, a Democrat, voted to impeach on most counts but voted "no" on one. Some Republican Senators consistently voted to clear Paxton, while most Democrats voted consistently to convict, with some exceptions on individual counts. Several Democrats did vote to acquit on Article 8, related to Paxton's use of public funds to settle a whistleblower lawsuit by several former employees of his office.
"They (House Impeachment Managers) did not convince the Senate Republicans, apparently," said reporter Chris Fox in Austin, who has covered the Texas Legislature for several years. "Senate Republicans are basically holding the line for acquittal."
Paxton was accused of improperly using the authority of his office to benefit a wealthy campaign donor, Austin businessman Nate Paul, who was being investigated by the FBI. The impeachment articles also included accusations about the funding of work done on Paxton's personal home and accusations that Paxton lied in an official government report. Paxton was also accused of lying about an extramarital affair and of using his influence to convince donor Nate Paul to give the woman a job at his company. The woman had been scheduled to testify before the Senate during the impeachment trial but was declared "unavailable".
"House prosecutors have to be frustrated," said reporter Chris Fox. "Some have suggested that their necks are on the line in this."
Some of the counts related to Paxton's indictment on charges of securities fraud. He was charged several years ago but has not yet faced trial. Those counts were postponed until the end of the proceedings and then dismissed. That means the Senate will not vote to impeach him on those counts, but it does not impact the criminal case against Paxton in state court.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican who presided over the proceedings in the Texas Senate, blasted Democrats and Republicans in the House who voted to bring the articles of impeachment in the first place.
"In the next regular session we should amend the constitution on the issue of impeachment that allowed this flawed process to happen," he said at the conclusion of the votes. "Any testimony given in a House impeachment investigation must be given under oath, and the target of that impeachment must be allowed to present with a lawyer to cross examine the witnesses. Otherwise, people can say anything they want without any accountability."
Lt. Gov. Patrick outlined some other changes he would like to see in the impeachment process.
"The House must also give members a minimum of two weeks to review all evidence given under oath before voting on such a serious matter. Had they done those two things, this trial may never have happened. When the House sends articles of impeachment to the Senate, the official should not be put on unpaid leave in the process."
He also called for a full financial accounting of the cost of the impeachment case.
"Millions of taxpayer dollars have been wasted on this impeachment. I'm going to call next week for a full audit of all taxpayer money spent by the House from their investigation in March to their final bills they got from their lawyers. We (the Texas Senate) will provide our costs as well...that were forced on us by this impeachment."
Republicans joined with the Lieutenant Governor to criticize the proceedings and members of the Texas House who voted to bring charges in the first place.
“Speaker Dade Phelan and his leadership team should be embarrassed for putting Texas through the time and expense of this political sham of an impeachment,” said Republican Party of Texas Chairman Matt Rinaldi.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott publicly expressed his support for Paxton after the impeachment trial was over.
"The jury has spoken," he said. "Attorney General Paxton received a fair trial as required by the Texas Constitution.
Attorney General Paxton has done an outstanding job representing Texas, especially pushing back against the Biden Administration. I look forward to continuing to work with him to secure the border and protect Texas from federal overreach."
Texas Democrats criticized the results of the proceedings, accusing Republicans of putting party politics above the evidence in the case.
“A broken and corrupt system allowed Ken Paxton to abuse the powers of his office. Hard-right Republicans decided today that it’s okay to take bribes and lie to the public, as long as you are the Republican Attorney General of Texas,” said State Senator Roland Gutierrez.