Texas AG Ken Paxton calls push for impeachment 'deceitful' ahead of House vote Saturday

The Texas House will gather Saturday afternoon to vote on whether or not to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton, a precursor to potentially ousting the state’s top elected prosecutor from an office he has held through numerous scandals since 2015.

The vote in the Republican-controlled House is set for 1 p.m. An impeachment is similar to a grand jury indictment in a criminal case in that it allows for the matter to proceed but does not mean a finding of guilt.

The House’s General Investigating Committee, which launched an investigation in March that yielded 20 articles of impeachment against Paxton, said Friday that Paxton cannot be trusted in his role as attorney general. The committee encouraged House members to vote to impeach him.

“Because of Paxton’s long-standing pattern of abuse of office and public trust, disregard and dereliction of duty, and obstruction of justice and abuse of judicial process, it is imperative that the House proceed with impeachment so that Paxton is prevented from using the significant powers granted to the attorney general to further obstruct and delay justice, not just by avoiding accountability for his wrongdoings, but by undermining the integrity of our state government,” the committee said in a memo.

Why is Ken Paxton being impeached? Read the 20 charges against him and Texas AG's response

A simple majority vote is required for the 149-member House to impeach Paxton and remove him from office pending a trial in the Senate.

Only two Texas officials have ever been impeached: Gov. James Ferguson in 1917 and District Judge O.P. Carrillo in 1975.

Paxton, who is not invited to speak before the House, held a news conference Friday where he called the impeachment vote “deceitful” and an “act of political retribution.” However, the impeachment push is not coming from Democrats but from Paxton's fellow Republicans, including House Speaker Dade Phelan.

Earlier in the week, before a committee hearing on the investigation, Paxton sought to undermine Phelan by accusing him of being intoxicated on the job last week. Paxton called on Phelan to resign.

Paxton, surrounded by top aides in his office at Friday's news conference, did not take questions from the media after reading from prepared remarks and left the room. He encouraged his supporters to go to the Capitol on Saturday to peacefully protest his impeachment. He noted, correctly, that the allegations against him have long been public and yet Texans voted to reelect him in 2018 and in 2022.

"I hope the House makes the right decision, but, if not, I look forward to a quick resolution in the Texas Senate where I truly believe the process will be fair and just,” he said.

More: Who are the key players involved in the federal probe into Texas AG Ken Paxton?

After Paxton exited the press conference, Chris Hilton, head of the attorney general's litigation department, spoke in defense of his boss. Hilton, citing the state's so-called forgiveness doctrine, said that Paxton cannot be removed from office because his alleged misdeeds happened before his most recent reelection. But the House investigators earlier said that law does not apply to impeachment proceedings.

If the House votes to impeach Paxton, the matter will head to the Senate where Paxton can formally present a defense at trial. A two-thirds vote in the 31-member Senate is needed to permanently remove him from office. His wife, Angela, serves in the Senate, representing District 8 in North Texas.

Saturday’s anticipated vote, which comes two days before the end of the 140-day legislative session, caps a whirlwind week that began with little sense that Paxton was in jeopardy or even that he was the unidentified target of the House investigation.

Forming the basis of the impeachment vote are several well-known Paxton incidents that he has yet to fully answer in court proceedings that have dragged on throughout his time in office. Paxton, indicted on state securities charges, is also the subject of an ongoing federal investigation into allegations that he misused his office to benefit a donor, Austin developer Nate Paul.

What we know: Will Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton be impeached?

However, the House was scarcely interested in Paxton’s alleged misdeeds until February when he asked lawmakers for a multimillion-dollar favor. Paxton, to finalize a settlement in a wrongful termination lawsuit from four whistleblowers in his office, asked the House to approve a $3.3 million payment with public funds.

But rather than agree to the payment, Phelan convened an investigation to learn more from Paxton's ex-aides. The results, presented Wednesday in a three-hour House committee hearing, affirmed years of known allegations made against Paxton and uncovered new ground when an investigator said Paxton possibly has a homestead exemption on two homes in violation of state law.

“We cannot overemphasize the fact that, but for Paxton's own request for a taxpayer funded settlement over his wrongful conduct, Paxton would not be facing impeachment,” the investigating committee said Friday.

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Texas AG Ken Paxton calls impeachment vote 'deceitful'