AUSTIN, Texas — State senators will return to the capital city Tuesday for the beginning of what is expected to be a tense and unpredictable trial to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The three-term Republican was temporarily stripped of his duties in May as the state's chief legal official and could be permanently banished from public service and face criminal charges if found guilty of corruption allegations, including bribery and abuse of public trust.Paxton, 60, has served alongside Gov. Greg Abbott since 2015, where he has been a driving force behind the Lone Star State and multi-state legal efforts against Washington.
Paxton's own deputy attorneys general reported their boss to the FBI in 2020. The eight deputies who came forward told federal investigators that Paxton illegally tried to help Paul fight the federal investigation. In return, Paul paid favors to Paxton, including giving a job to a woman whom Paxton was having an affair with. The job allowed the out-of-town woman to work in Austin. The whistleblowers also alleged that Paul financed Paxton's home renovations.
"No one person should be above the law, least not the top law officer of the state of Texas," said state Rep. David Spiller, a Republican and one of the committee's five members. "The fact that I was prohibited from presenting evidence to defend myself reveals that this shameful process was curated from the start as an act of political retribution," Paxton said at the time, adding that he had"full confidence" he would be exonerated.
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