On Saturday, state Attorney General Ken Paxton got impeached by The Texas House of Representatives. The House Investigating Committee has issued 20 articles of impeachment against the Republican Attorney.
The impeachment process counted 121 votes in favor and 23 against the impeachment. The Attorney will not be able to continue his office pending a Senate trial.
Before Ken Paxton, the State House had dismissed two lawmakers, first Governor James Ferguson in 1917 and second District Judge OP Carrillo in 1975. However, no attorney general has been impeached, and this is the first case of its kind.
Let’s find out why the Attorney was impeached.
Why Is Ken Paxton Impeached?
The Texas Investigating House Committee invoked 20 articles of impeachment against Ken Paxton. The committee chairman and a Republican, Andrew Murr, pointed out that the impeachment described grave offenses.
The 20 articles of impeachment against the Attorney reportedly included accusations of bribery, abuse of the public trust, disregarding his official duty, and obstruction of justice in an independent securities fraud case pending against Paxton.
The Texas attorney has been facing an F.B.I. investigation for years over charges of using his office to help a donor. He was separately indicted on securities fraud charges in 2015, but the lawsuit is still under trial. Paxton is also accused of issuing misleading or false statements in official filings to mislead the public and public officials.
The House Committee also asserted that many of the charges in the impeachment are related to the various ways the Attorney used his power to benefit Austin real estate developer and campaign donor Nate Paul. Allegations include that Paxton directed his office employee to do work that benefitted Nate Paul and that he misused confidential public data to provide information to the donor that would help him.
The articles of impeachment also alleged Paxton benefitting from Nate Paul’s hired woman employed to renovate the Attorney’s house with whom Paxton was involved in an extramarital affair. He is also accused of interfering in a lawsuit filed against Paul’s companies by an Austin nonprofit group, Roy F and Joann Cole Mitte Foundation.
Soon after the release of the vote, Paxton called the impeachment a” politically motivated sham since the beginning.”
Earlier, Paxton worked as a lawyer and state legislator, serving the State House and Senate. He became the Texas attorney general in 2015. His wife, Angela Paxton, also serves in the State Senate since 2018.
Paxton got elected to a third term in the previous year. He criticized the impeachment process asserting he was not allowed to present favorable evidence. He called it an effort by Democrats and ‘liberal’ Republicans to remove him from office, violating the will of voters and harming effective warriors against the present administration policies.
Who Is Nate Paul, Donor At The Center Of Ken Paxton’s Impeachment Case?
Nate Paul is an active political donor, rich real estate investor in Austin, and a friend of the Texas Attorney General, Ken Paxton.
In the year 2020, many senior members of Paxton’s office requested to raise an investigation into the actions of the lawmaker. They accused Paxton of using his position to serve the interests of Nate Paul.
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