Texas Republican AG Ken Paxton impeached

The Republican-led Texas House of Representatives voted Saturday to impeach state Attorney General Ken Paxton on several corruption charges.

The embattled Republican AG was suspended, effective immediately, by a vote of 121-23. Two House members were present, but did not vote, while three others were absent.

Gov. Greg Abbott is now empowered to appoint Paxton’s interim replacement, as the AG awaits the outcome of a trial in the state Senate, where his wife Angela is a member. 

The disgraced AG called his ouster a “politically motivated sham.”

“I look forward to a quick resolution in the Texas Senate, where I have full confidence the process will be fair and just.”

“I am beyond grateful to have the support of millions of Texans who recognize that what we just witnessed is illegal, unethical, and profoundly unjust,” Paxton tweeted after the vote.

“I look forward to a quick resolution in the Texas Senate, where I have full confidence the process will be fair and just.”

A clerk read out the 20 articles of impeachment to a hushed chamber on Saturday, with disregard of official duty, misapplication of public resources, constitutional bribery, obstruction of justice and unfitness for office among the charges leveled against Paxton by lawmakers.

State Rep. Charlie Geren, a Republican, said Paxton had been threatening members of the House to warn them against voting for impeachment.

“I would like to point out that several members of this House, while on the floor of this House doing the state business, received telephone calls from General Paxton personally, threatening them with political consequences in their next election,” Geren said.

Rep. Ann Johnson, the Democratic vice chair of the committee, called the vote “a fork in the road,” according to the Houston Chronicle.

“Either this is going to be the beginning of the end of his criminal reign, or God help us with the harms that will come to all Texans if he is allowed to stay the top cop on the take,” the former prosecutor said as she closed the panel’s opening remarks.

“The last 72 hours have shown us why Ken Paxton is so desperate to keep his case in the court of public opinion: Because he has no ability to win in a court of law.”

Paxton’s supporters, on the other hand, called the hearing “indefensible” and unethical.

Amarillo Republican Rep. John Smithee said the process was “indefensible,” and added that Paxton “was never notified of these proceedings. He was never invited, much less allowed, to provide any material, any evidence or any testimony that might in any way be exculpatory toward his guilt.

“That is not fairness, that is not due process, that is not the way that things should be done,” he said, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Arlington GOP Rep. Tony Tinderholt agreed.

“Does pushing this through so quickly in the late hours of session seem ethical? I’d say no,” the paper reported him saying.

Smithee later urged delaying the hearing, saying, “We have no evidence — absolutely no evidence — in our record that would justify impeachment,” he argued. “There may be a lot of evidence out there. There may be volumes of evidence that would justify impeachment, but we don’t got it. We don’t have it. It’s not there.”

GOP Rep. Jeff Leach of Plano debunked Smithee’s claims that Paxton was not invited, clarifying that he asked the AG to testify several times, which he refused.

Paxton supporters, including former president Donald Trump, lashed out after the vote.

Trump slammed the impeachment as “a very unfair process” and claimed, “It is the Radical Left Democrats, RINOS, and Criminals that never stop. ELECTION INTERFERENCE! Free Ken Paxton, let them wait for the next election!”

Texas GOP Sen. Ted Cruz also backed Paxton in the hours ahead of the vote, calling it “a travesty.”

“For the last nine years, Ken has been the strongest conservative AG in the country. Bar none. No attorney general has battled the abuses of the Biden admin more ferociously—and more effectively—than has Paxton,” Cruz said in a tweet.

The vote for impeachment comes amid an FBI criminal probe into allegations that Paxton used his office to improperly assist Nate Paul, a wealthy real estate investor who is one of his big-time donors.

Texas has not impeached a major statewide official since former Gov. James E. Ferguson in 1917.

Paxton supporters and other curious onlookers lined up more than an hour before the proceedings to witness the event.

“I’m here to watch history in the making and stand for our Attorney General Ken Paxton,” Marcia Watson, 60, told the Texas Tribune.

Adding more intrigue to the mix, one of the charges concerned alleged bribery after Paul was accused of giving a job to a woman Paxton was having an affair with in exchange for legal services.

Paxton came clean about the affair to senior members of his political staff in 2018.

Paxton’s wife — Texas State Sen. Angela Paxton — is currently slated to be one of his 31 jurors, though she is facing calls from good government groups to recuse herself.

AG Paxton has condemned the impeachment as a witch hunt and called for peaceful protests at the Texas Capitol in Austin on Saturday — though so far none have materialized.

With Post wires