A historic Texas Impeachment Trial, to determine whether Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) should be Permanently removed from Office, will begin no later than August 28th in the State Senate, where the Jury that will determine his Future, could include his wife, Sen. Angela Paxton (R-8th District).
Setting a Schedule was One of the last Orders of Business Lawmakers took Monday, during a sluggish end to this year’s Legislative Session in Texas, where the Impeachment laid bare Fractures in America’s biggest Red State, beyond whether Republicans will oust One of the GOP’s Conservative Legal Stars.
It drags Republicans, who for years have pushed fast-changing Texas farther to the Right, into a Summer of unfinished Business and soured feelings that are likely to spill into 2024’s Elections.
As time ran out for Lawmakers on Memorial Day, expectations mounted that Gov. Greg Abbott (R) would quickly call a Special Session and Order them back to work. “I would not pack your bags just yet,” House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-21ft District) told Lawmakers before adjourning.
At the center of the Conflict is Paxton, who the GOP-controlled House overwhelmingly Impeached this weekend, on Charges that include Bribery and Misuse of Office, following nearly a Decade of Scandal and Criminal Accusations, that have dogged the State’s Top Lawyer. He is Suspended from Office pending Trial in the State Senate, which set a Start Date of No later than Aug. 28th.
The Chairman of the House Investigation, State Rep. Andrew Murr (R-53rd District), Declined to Comment on whether it would be appropriate for Sen. Paxton to Participate. “We will manage this process with the weight and reverence it deserves and requires,” Murr said.
“There are certainly battle lines that exist within the Republican Party,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a Professor of Political Science at the University of Houston. “I don’t think they’re ideological. I think you could read into this that the House is tired of being pressured by far-right Republicans, and this is their way of putting in some barriers.”
Paxton is only the Third sitting Official in Texas’ nearly 200-year History to be Impeached.
The raft of Accusations against him include: an Indictment on Securities Fraud Charges, Allegations that he Misused his Office to try to thwart an FBI Investigation into One of His Largest Donors.
“What happened this week is nothing I take pride in,” Phelan told the Chamber. “It is not anything I was proud of. But it was necessary. It was just.”
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