Trump wants credit for Paxton acquittal as Texas Republicans feud after impeachment trial

Since his impeachment acquittal Saturday, Attorney General Ken Paxton has been active in thanking those he thinks helped return him to his post as the top law enforcement officer in Texas.

Through a stream of congratulatory messages on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter, Paxton has hinted that he plans to reclaim his mantle as a leading opposition figure to Democratic President Joe Biden. He also has been agreeing with those who have advocated in the trial's aftermath for more conservative Republicans to unseat members of the party who voted for the impeachment to proceed from the House to a trial in the Senate.

Former President Donald Trump, one of Paxton's biggest allies, who became increasingly vocal as the impeachment trial approached a final verdict, said Monday that he takes credit for the Texas Senate's decision to acquit Paxton of 16 impeachment charges. Four additional articles were not heard in the proceeding.

"Yes, it is true that my intervention through TRUTH SOCIAL saved Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton from going down at the hands of Democrats and some Republicans," Trump posted Monday on the social media site.

Some Capitol observers made the argument after Trump's post that by taking credit for the acquittal, Trump is basically accusing Republican senators of violating their oath to consider only the evidence presented during the trial.

"Ken has been a great A.G., and now he can go back to work for the wonderful people of Texas. It was my honor to have helped correct his injustice!" Trump wrote.

Paxton, an ardent supporter of Trump since his presidency, has followed suit in claiming that left-leaning Republicans, with the help of Democrats, pushed forward an impeachment proceeding that lacked evidence and merit, a claim echoed by the trial's presiding officer, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who said in his closing remarks Saturday that the House "forced" the vote on the Senate.

"The sham impeachment coordinated by the Biden Administration with liberal House Speaker Dade Phelan and his kangaroo court has cost taxpayers millions of dollars, disrupted the work of the Office of Attorney General and left a dark and permanent stain on the Texas House," Paxton said in a statement after his acquittal Saturday.

Making a similar assessment about the state's expenditure for the proceeding, Patrick said Saturday that he would call for a full audit of the cost accumulated during the trial. On Monday, he officially made that request to determine "the absolute total cost to the state" for conducting the trial in a letter requesting an audit by State Auditor Lisa Collier.

Phelan, a Beaumont Republican, in his own statement Saturday pushed back on the claim that the impeachment was a politically driven, high-cost proceeding, arguing that House impeachment managers presented enough "damning evidence" to warrant an impeachment as he condemned Patrick for professing his desired outcome in the closing moments of the two-week trial.

More: Paxton acquittal deepens split between Texas House, Senate ahead of school voucher session

"Moreover, I find it deeply concerning that after weeks of claiming he would preside over this trial in an impartial and honest manner, Lt. Gov. Patrick would conclude by confessing his bias and placing his contempt for the people's House on full display," Phelan said. "To be clear, Patrick attacked the House for standing up against corruption."

Over the course of the two week Senate trial, House managers presented that evidence, making the case that Paxton's actions tied to assisting Nate Paul, an Austin real estate developer and Paxton campaign donor, avoid foreclosures on some of his properties, hiring an outside attorney to investigate law enforcement agencies conducting a probe into Paul's business and a home remodel allegedly funded by Paul showcased why Paxton is unfit for office.

Paxton's defense team, led by attorneys Tony Buzbee and Dan Cogdell, argued that Paxton was the victim of "rogue employees" who did not like the directives from their boss. They argued the legitimacy of the connection between Paul and the remodel of Paxton's Tarrytown home, saying the renovation never actually took place.

They also pushed back on the hypocrisy of bringing up Paxton's extramarital affair, which Buzbee chalked up to "much ado about nothing."

The Senate voted with Paxton's team on every article, with each vote failing to reach the 21-vote threshold to convict. No charge gained more than 14 votes in favor of a conviction.

Now Republicans in the House are facing harsh blowback in conservative circles for going after Paxton, with a cacophony of calls for House impeachment managers and those who voted to impeach the attorney general be voted out in next year's primary elections.

More: How each Texas Senator voted in Ken Paxton's impeachment trial

As a result of that rhetoric, an existing rift between Phelan and Patrick's chambers has widened, with implications for the whole of the Republican Party of Texas.

"There are Republicans who will claim 'no, there's not a civil war,’ ” said Jon Taylor, chair of the department of political science and a professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio. "There is most assuredly a civil war brewing."

And while nearly all Senate Republicans sided with Paxton over the course of 16 separate acquittal votes, Robert Nichols, R-Jacksonville, and Kelly Hancock, R-North Richland Hills, face similar intraparty anger for voting to convict Paxton on nearly every charge.

While Nichols had remained quiet since the Senate's vote Saturday, he released a statement Monday saying that the testimony from the whistleblowers who approached the FBI impacted his votes.

"Their testimony, combined with the totality of all the other evidence presented by the House Board of Managers, proved to me beyond a reasonable doubt that the Attorney General's actions violated Texas law and his oath of office," Nichols said.

Meanwhile, Hancock responded in frustration on X to a claim that he sought to unseat Paxton after a legislative feud during their time together in the Texas House in the mid-2000s.

"Ken and I would grab lunch years after that and had a good relationship. I voted based on the testimony and evidence available to me," Hancock said Sunday. "With much prayer and wisdom from God. In the end, he gave me a peace I can’t explain."

Hancock and Nichols will not face reelection until 2026, and by then, Taylor said, a number of other charges Paxton faces could have come to bear, making the impeachment trial a distant memory.

"Three years is a lifetime in politics," Taylor said. "Who's going to remember the Paxton impeachment, particularly if Ken Paxton is convicted on either state charges or future federal charges and is out of office anyway?"

Paxton, who is charged in a state securities case with defrauding investors in a Dallas-area tech startup, also faces a federal investigation after federal prosecutors seated a grand jury in San Antonio in August.

Paxton also faces a complaint from the State Bar of Texas seeking to revoke his law license, although the state constitution does not require an attorney general to be a licensed lawyer.

"He's not out of the woods by any stretch of the imagination," Taylor said. "And people think somehow, 'Oh, he's 10 feet tall and bulletproof.' He is far from that right now."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Donald Trump wants credit for Texas AG Paxton impeachment acquittal