A Texas-Style Impeachment

At long last, the Texas AG is impeached, but will the Senate convict?

The Texas Legislature has impeached the Attorney General, Ken Paxton, proving that in the Lone Star State, the chief law enforcement officer can only operate under criminal indictment for eight years before facing consequences.

The Senate will hold a trial. According to the AP, “One member of that chamber is his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, and she could cast a vote on her husband’s political future, which is now in jeopardy in part because of bribery allegations linked to his extra-marital affair.”

Donald Trump wondered, “What is our country coming to?“ Seriously. I didn’t make that up. Yes, our ex-president is wondering what our country has come to when elected officials who are charged with fraud, abuse of office, and bribery, are actually held to account.

It might be close, but it’s hard to believe that in a heavily gerrymandered Republican state there will be enough votes to convict. I think the most interesting question is whether his wife will sit in judgment, recuse herself from the proceedings, or just go after him with a kitchen knife.

About the only thing he isn’t charged with is wearing those hideous ties, but I’ve come to understand that’s not a crime in Texas. It should be.

Of course, Attorney General Paxton responded respectfully and diplomatically by saying that the trial was completely unfair, and that his Republican accusers are actually in league with the accursed “Democrats, liberals,” and the all-purpose “woke corporations.” He called his impeachment an “ugly spectacle” that was “illegal, unethical and profoundly unjust.”

Heather Cox Richardson: “Paxton is not unused to trouble. He has been under a felony indictment for securities fraud since 2015, successfully holding off the charges through repeated delays. In 2020, eight of his top advisors accused him of abusing his office to help a wealthy donor, Nate Paul, resist an FBI investigation. But he has maintained his popularity with Republican voters in Texas by standing as a fervent Trump supporter and attacking the Biden administration, and party leaders would not turn on him.”

He was practiced at using his office as a cudgel. Apparently quick to anger and seek revenge, the straw that broke the camel’s back was earlier this year when he was handed a $3.3 million dollar bill for political retaliation against a staffer who became a whistleblower. His hubris is such that he tried to get taxpayers to cover his fine. After everything, that’s what finally got him impeached.

Finding no reasonable defense, he accused the Republican Speaker of the Texas House of being drunk in session, and insisting he resign. It’s right out of the Trump playbook—whatever they accuse you of, respond with an accusation so outlandish that people focus on it and not your own malfeasance.

But the tactic was too late for Paxton, who though an acolyte, is no Donald Trump. He has the outrage, but not the TV-savvy appeal. The question on all watchers’ minds is whether this is a harbinger of bad things to come for The Donald, whose long string of luck might be running out too. I know, I know, we’ve all heard that before, and whether all the lies and self-serving actions might actually come with a bill at the end is still anyone’s guess.

I was looking for the term “witch-hunt,” but all I’ve seen so far is his claim that holding him accountable is “illegal.” He said, “The House is poised to do exactly what Joe Biden has been hoping to accomplish since his first day in office: sabotage our work, my work, as attorney general of Texas.”

This represents the first crack in the Trump-style armor. Texas Republicans had, until the impeachment hearing, avoided the subject like an evangelist caught at a drag queen show, but finally had to put their money where their mouths are.

The bribery and fraud charges are serious, but not nearly as damning as the abuse of office charge stemming from Paxton securing search warrants against the federal judge who allowed FBI agents to search his office and home, and the FBI agents’ themselves. When his impeachment finally came before the Texas House, fellow Republicans say he threatened them with political retribution if they voted against him. Finding safety in numbers, most of the House Republicans voted to impeach in a block so big, even the AG couldn’t muster the forces to strike back.

Even with all of the above (and there’s more—I just don’t have the space to talk specifics about the federal prosecutors he tried to intimidate), conviction would take a two-thirds majority of the body, and that is not ensured. Either way, it will be a Republican-on-Republican donnybrook.

It looks like Texas has tired of letting Florida keep all the crazy for itself.

©2023 Jon Sinton