Republican Texas attorney general acquitted at impeachment trial in GOP-controlled Senate
AUSTIN, Texas — Texas Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton was acquitted Saturday of corruption charges following a historic impeachment trial, a resounding verdict that reaffirms the power of the GOP’s hard right and puts an indicted incumbent who remains under FBI investigation back into office.
The outcome reaffirmed Paxton’s durability in America’s biggest red state and is a broader victory for Texas’ hard right after years of scandal and criminal charges. It also delivered a signature victory for the Texas GOP’s ascendant hard-right flank following a dramatic trial that put on display the fractures among Republicans nationally heading into 2024.
More than three months after an overwhelming impeachment in the Texas House, which is controlled by Republicans, Paxton was just as convincingly acquitted by Senate Republicans who serve alongside his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton.
Angela Paxton was not allowed to vote. But she was required to attend the full two-week trial, including the reading of the verdict, when all but two of her fellow 18 Republican senators consistently voted to acquit her husband on 16 impeachment articles that accused him of misconduct, bribery and corruption.
Ken Paxton, who was absent for most of the proceedings, did not attend the verdict.
“Today, the truth prevailed. The truth could not be buried by mudslinging politicians or their powerful benefactors,” Paxton said. “I’ve said many times: Seek the truth! And that is what was accomplished.”
The Senate also separately voted to dismiss four impeachment articles that weren’t taken up at the trial.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott quickly welcomed Paxton back to the job moments after the conclusion of the trial, which included a former nominee of ex-President Trump testifying how Paxton allegedly broke the law in order to protect one of his political donors.
The outcome far from ends Paxton’s troubles. He still faces trial on felony securities fraud charges, remains under a separate FBI investigation and is in jeopardy of losing his ability to practice law in Texas because of his baseless attempts to overturn the 2020 election.
The jury of 30 senators, most of whom are Republicans, spent about eight hours deliberating behind closed doors before emerging for the historic vote. The Senate is led by Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who served as Texas chairman of Trump’s previous presidential campaigns, and who served as the presiding judge for the trial.
Patrick, a former conservative radio host in Houston, had said little about the case leading up to the trial. But once it was over, he unleashed a blistering attack over the impeachment ever getting this far in the first place.
Still sitting on the podium where he oversaw the trial, Patrick said the process had been “rammed” through the Texas House and vowed to pursue a change to the state constitution so it couldn’t happen again.
“Millions of taxpayer dollars have been wasted on this impeachment,” Patrick said.
In Texas Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial, fellow Republicans will decide whether to punish the powerful firebrand who has driven state policymaking.
In the Senate gallery, among those who staked out an early seat for the impeachment vote were three of Paxton’s former deputies who reported him to the FBI in 2020 and were key witnesses for House impeachment managers during the trial. One of them left before the conclusion of the verdict as it became clear the votes were going Paxton’s way.
There was no visible reaction from the former deputies — David Maxwell, Ryan Vassar and Blake Brickman — after Paxton was acquitted on Article 6, termination of whistleblowers.
After the trial was concluded, Angela Paxton went over to her husband’s legal team and hugged them before leaving the chamber.
For nearly a decade, Paxton has elevated his national profile by rushing his office into polarizing courtroom battles across the U.S., winning acclaim from Trump and the GOP’s hard right.
The move Saturday triggers his immediate suspension and sets up a trial in the state Senate that could permanently remove Texas’ top law enforcement official from office.
Making one final appeal to convict Texas’ top lawyer, impeachment managers used their closing arguments Friday to cast him as a crook who needed to go.
“If we don’t keep public officials from abusing the powers of their office, then frankly no one can,” Republican state Rep. Andrew Murr, who helped lead the impeachment in the Texas House, said in his closing arguments.
In an angry and defiant rebuttal, Paxton lawyer Tony Buzbee unleashed attacks on a wide-ranging cast of figures both inside and outside the Texas Capitol, mocking a Texas Ranger who warned Paxton he was risking indictment and another accuser who cried on the witness stand.
Buzbee portrayed the impeachment as a plot orchestrated by an old guard of GOP rivals. He singled out George P. Bush, the nephew of former President George W. Bush who challenged Paxton in the 2022 Republican primary, punctuating a closing argument that questioned the integrity of FBI agents and railed against Texas’ most famous political dynasty.
The case centers on accusations that Paxton misused his office to help one of his donors, Austin real estate developer Nate Paul, who was indicted in June on charges of making false statements to banks. Paul has pleaded not guilty.
Eight of Paxton’s former deputies reported him to the FBI in 2020, setting off a federal investigation that will continue regardless of the verdict. Federal prosecutors investigating Paxton took testimony in August before a grand jury in San Antonio, according to two people with knowledge of the matter who spoke on condition of anonymity because of secrecy rules around the proceeding.
One said the grand jury heard from Drew Wicker, Paxton’s former personal aide. At the impeachment trial, Wicker testified that he once heard a contractor tell Paxton he would need to check with “Nate” about the cost of renovations to the attorney general’s Austin home.
During closing arguments, the defense told senators that there was either no evidence for the charges or that there wasn’t enough to rise beyond a reasonable doubt. The House impeachment managers, by contrast, walked through specific documents and played clips of testimony by the deputies who reported Paxton to the FBI.
One of the impeachment articles centered on an alleged extramarital affair Paxton had with Laura Olson, who worked for Paul. It alleged that Paul’s hiring of Olson amounted to a bribe. She was called to the witness stand but never testified. Another article alleged the developer also bribed Paxton by paying for his home renovations.
An extramarital affair Texas Atty. Gen. Ken Paxton had with a donor’s employee is at the center of his impeachment trial on accusations of corruption.
Paxton faces an array of legal troubles. Besides the federal investigation for the same allegations that gave rise to his impeachment, he also faces a bar disciplinary proceeding over his effort to overturn the 2020 election and has yet to stand trial on state securities fraud charges dating to 2015.
He pleaded not guilty in the state case.
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