AUSTIN, Texas (AP) \u2014 Texas\u2019 GOP-led House of Representatives impeached state Attorney General Ken Paxton on Saturday on articles including bribery and abuse of public trust, a sudden, historic rebuke of a fellow Republican who rose to be a star of the conservative legal movement despite years of scandal and alleged crimes.<\/p>\n
The vote triggers Paxton\u2019s immediate suspension from office<\/a> pending the outcome of a trial in the state Senate and empowers Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to appoint someone else as Texas\u2019 top lawyer in the interim.<\/p>\n The 121-23 vote constitutes an abrupt downfall for one of the GOP\u2019s most prominent legal combatants, who in 2020 asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn President Joe Biden\u2019s electoral defeat of Donald Trump.<\/a> It makes Paxton only the third sitting official in Texas\u2019 nearly 200-year history to have been impeached.<\/p>\n Moments after the vote, Paxton\u2019s office said the impeachment was \u201cbased on totally false claims\u201d and pointed to internal reports that found no wrongdoing. House investigators said the attorney general\u2019s own probe into Paxton\u2019s actions includes false and disproven claims.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one person should be above the law, least not the top law enforcement officer of the state of Texas,\u201d Rep. David Spiller, a Republican member of the committee that investigated Paxton, said in opening statements. Rep. Ann Johnson, a Democratic member, told lawmakers that Texas\u2019 \u201ctop cop is on the take.\u201d Rep. Charlie Geren, a Republican committee member, said without elaborating that Paxton had called lawmakers and threatened them with political \u201cconsequences.\u201d As the articles of impeachment were laid out, some of the lawmakers shook their heads.<\/p>\n Paxton has been under FBI investigation for years over accusations that he used his office to help a donor and was separately indicted on securities fraud charges in 2015, though he has yet to stand trial<\/a>. Until this week, his fellow Republicans had taken a muted stance on the allegations.<\/p>\n Lawmakers allied with Paxton tried to discredit the investigation by noting that hired investigators, not panel members, interviewed witnesses. They also said several of the investigators had voted in Democratic primaries, tainting the impeachment, and that they had too little time to review evidence.<\/p>\n \u201cI perceive it could be political weaponization,\u201d said Rep. Tony Tinderholt, one of the House\u2019s most conservative members. Republican Rep. John Smithee compared the proceeding to “a Saturday mob out for an afternoon lynching.\u201d<\/p>\n Paxton is automatically suspended from office pending a Senate trial, and it falls to Republican Gov. Greg Abbott to appoint an interim replacement. Final removal would require a two-thirds vote in the Senate, where Paxton\u2019s wife\u2019s, Angela, is a member.<\/p>\n Texas’ top elected Republicans had been notably quiet about Paxton this week. But on Saturday both Trump and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz came to his defense, with the senator calling the impeachment process \u201ca travesty\u201d and saying the attorney general\u2019s legal troubles should be left to the courts.<\/p>\n \u201cFree Ken Paxton,\u201d Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, warning that if House Republicans proceeded with the process, \u201cI will fight you.\u201d<\/p>\n Abbott, who lauded Paxton while swearing him in for a third term in January, has remained silent. The governor spoke at a Memorial Day service in the House chamber about three hours before the impeachment proceedings began. Republican House Speaker Dade Phelan also attended but the two appeared to exchange few words, and Abbott left without commenting to reporters.<\/p>\n In one sense, Paxton\u2019s political peril arrived with dizzying speed: The House committee’s investigation<\/a> came to light Tuesday, and by Thursday lawmakers issued 20 articles<\/a> of impeachment.\u00a0<\/p>\n But to Paxton\u2019s detractors, the rebuke was years overdue.<\/p>\n In 2014, he admitted to violating Texas securities law, and a year later he was indicted on securities fraud charges in his hometown near Dallas, accused of defrauding investors in a tech startup. He pleaded not guilty to two felony counts carrying a potential sentence of five to 99 years.<\/p>\n He opened a legal defense fund and accepted $100,000<\/a> from an executive whose company was under investigation by Paxton\u2019s office for Medicaid fraud. An additional $50,000 was donated by an Arizona retiree whose son Paxton later hired to a high-ranking job<\/a> but was soon fired after displaying child pornography<\/a> in a meeting. In 2020, Paxton intervened in a Colorado mountain<\/a> community where a Texas donor and college classmate faced removal from his lakeside home under coronavirus orders.<\/p>\n But what ultimately unleased the impeachment push was Paxton’s relationship with Austin real estate developer Nate Paul.<\/p>\n In 2020, eight top aides told the FBI they were concerned Paxton was misusing his office<\/a> to help Paul over the developer’s unproven claims that an elaborate conspiracy to steal $200 million of his properties was afoot. The FBI searched Paul\u2019s home in 2019, but he has not been charged and denies wrongdoing. Paxton also told staff members he had an affair with a woman<\/a> who, it later emerged, worked for Paul.<\/p>\n The impeachment accuses Paxton of attempting to interfere in foreclosure lawsuits and issuing legal opinions to benefit Paul. Its bribery charges allege that Paul employed the woman with whom Paxton had an affair in exchange for legal help and that he paid for expensive renovations<\/a> to the attorney general’s home.<\/p>\n A senior lawyer for Paxton\u2019s office, Chris Hilton, said Friday that the attorney general paid for all repairs and renovations.<\/p>\n Other charges, including lying to investigators, date back to Paxton\u2019s still-pending securities fraud indictment.\u00a0<\/p>\n Four of the aides who reported Paxton to the FBI later sued under Texas\u2019 whistleblower law, and in February he agreed to settle the case for $3.3 million<\/a>. The House committee said it was Paxton seeking legislative approval for the payout that sparked their probe.<\/p>\n \u201cBut for Paxton\u2019s own request for a taxpayer-funded settlement over his wrongful conduct, Paxton would not be facing impeachment,\u201d the panel said.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Bleiberg reported from Dallas.<\/p>\n