Paxton

[nsacpi]

The investigators described how Mr. Paxton had abused and misused his office to help an Austin real estate developer and donor who also hired a woman with whom Mr. Paxton was having a relationship, and how Mr. Paxton had created a climate of fear within the office of the attorney general.

The misdeeds that Mr. Paxton was accused of committing rose to the level of possible criminality, the investigators said, including instances of retaliation against people who spoke up.

Much of what was presented to the committee about Mr. Paxton was already known publicly from the allegations made in the aides’ lawsuit. The aides also took their complaints about Mr. Paxton to the F.B.I., which is still investigating.

The vote on Thursday rendered the first official judgment on those allegations, finding them sufficient to begin the process of removing Mr. Paxton from office.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/25/u...smid=url-share

[Garmel]

Paxton's a crook.

[nsacpi]

Seems like it.

[cajunrevenge]

If I recall correctly he has been under indictment for like 10 years. They named a special prosecutor to handle it and Republicans in the state just defunded the special prosecutor. He recently just settled a lawsuit by the whistleblowers he fired for 3 million..... of taxpayer money.

[Carp]

Great actor. Very underrated. Sorely missed.

[nsacpi]

could shoot the three too

[nsacpi]

In 2020, several senior members of Mr. Paxton’s staff wrote a letter urging an investigation into the actions of their boss. The aides accused Mr. Paxton of using his office to serve the interests of Nate Paul, who was a friend of the attorney general and a political donor.

Mr. Paul, a wealthy real estate investor in Austin, had contacted Mr. Paxton after his home and offices were raided by federal agents in 2019. Mr. Paxton took the unusual step, against his staff’s vociferous objections, of authorizing a state investigation of the F.B.I.’s actions. He appointed an outside lawyer who referred to himself as a special prosecutor to do it, though investigators for the House committee said that he had no prosecutorial experience. F.B.I. officials have not commented on their investigation.

At the time, Mr. Paxton said in a statement that he had “never been motivated by a desire to protect a political donor or to abuse this office, nor will I ever.”

In their 2020 letter, Mr. Paxton’s aides said that he had committed bribery, abuse of office and other “potential criminal offenses.” Four of the aides also brought their concerns to the F.B.I. and Texas Rangers.

According to legal filings in the case, the four aides had also relayed their concerns to the attorney general’s office; several weeks later, they were all fired. The aides filed suit after that, accusing Mr. Paxton of retaliating against them.

As the case proceeded, Mr. Paxton’s office produced a 374-page report that concluded, “A.G. Paxton committed no crime.” He has also challenged the suit, but a Texas court of appeals has ruled against him. In February, Mr. Paxton agreed to pay $3.3 million in a settlement with the four former senior aides.

Questions over how to pay the settlement prompted more investigation into the 2020 allegations.

Mr. Paxton asked the Texas Legislature for the funds to pay the $3.3 million. Dade Phelan, the Republican House speaker, who is seen as a traditional conservative, did not support that use of state money. A House investigation into the allegations was begun in order to gather information about the funding request, Mr. Phelan’s spokeswoman said.

Many of the investigators’ findings about Mr. Paxton were already known publicly, from the allegations made in the aides’ lawsuit. But the House committee vote on Thursday rendered the first official judgment on those allegations: They were, legislators said, enough to begin the process of removing Mr. Paxton from office.

The committee filed 20 articles of impeachment against Mr. Paxton on Thursday. As they were being handed out around the House chamber, Andrew Murr, the chairman of the committee and a Republican, said that they described “grave offenses.”

The articles charge Mr. Paxton with a litany of abuses including taking bribes, disregarding his official duty, obstructing justice in a separate securities fraud case pending against him, making false statements on official documents and reports, and abusing the public trust.

Many of the charges related to the various ways that Mr. Paxton had used his office to benefit Mr. Paul, the committee said, and then fire those in the office who spoke up against his actions.

The articles also accuse Mr. Paxton of benefiting “from Nate Paul’s employment of a woman with whom Paxton was having an extramarital affair,” and of intervening in a lawsuit filed against Mr. Paul’s companies by the Roy F. and Joann Cole Mitte Foundation, an Austin nonprofit group.

In 2015, his first year in that office, Mr. Paxton was charged with felonies related to securities fraud and booked in a county jail outside Dallas. The charges stemmed from accusations that Mr. Paxton had misled investors and clients — for example, by failing to tell investors that he would make a commission on their investment — while doing securities work in the years before he became attorney general.

He has denied wrongdoing in the case, which has yet to go to trial.

This week’s articles of impeachment accused the attorney general of obstruction of justice in that case, alleging that a lawsuit, which was filed by a donor to Mr. Paxton’s campaign, effectively delayed the trial.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/26/u...smid=url-share

sounds like his chutzpah in asking that taxpayer money be used to pay for his settlement is what triggered the impeachment...otherwise he might have been able to get away with it all

[nsacpi]

[nsacpi]

[nsacpi]

[nsacpi]

Paxton’s permanent removal would require a two-thirds vote by the Senate’s 19 Republicans and dozen Democrats. Paxton’s wife, Angela, is a Republican senator entitled to vote. So is Sen. Bryan Hughes (R), a Patrick lieutenant mentioned in the House articles of impeachment as having aided Paxton. Patrick has not said how he plans to handle those potential conflicts of interest. Both he and Abbott have remained conspicuously silent during Paxton’s impeachment investigation.

“Patrick is much more ideologically and politically aligned with Paxton than he is with the Speaker of the House,” said James Henson, who heads the Texas Politics Project at University of Texas at Austin. But the impeachment puts Patrick in an awkward position given “the strength of the case against Paxton,” he said.

Matt Mackowiak, chair of the Republican Party in Travis County, which includes Austin, said it was unlikely that enough Republican senators would vote against Paxton unless Patrick called for it.

“I don’t expect it. Ideologically they’re very aligned. And you’ve started to see Trumpworld weigh in,” he said, noting that Donald Trump Jr., former White House aide Stephen Miller and conservative activist Charlie Kirk had tweeted support for Paxton in recent days.

Shortly before debate began, former president Trump weighed in, criticizing Phelan and threatening to “fight” House Republicans who failed to support Paxton. “It is the Radical Left Democrats, RINOS, and Criminals that never stop,” Trump said on his social media platform. “ELECTION INTERFERENCE! Free Ken Paxton, let them wait for the next election!” Paxton retweeted Trump’s statement.

After the vote, Trump posted video Paxton has cited as evidence Phelan was drunk when he presided over the legislature last week, which Phelan’s office has dismissed as an effort by Paxton to “save face.”

“So this is the RINO who is responsible for the impeachment of a just re-elected Attorney General of Texas who has done an outstanding job? What is our Country coming to?” Trump wrote.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/natio...-general-vote/

[nsacpi]

[cajunrevenge]

So are we all in agreement that anyone who says this is a hoax and false charges to "get Paxton" is not a serious or credible person?

[cajunrevenge]

https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05...n-impeachment/



And the most predictable guy ever comes to the defense of the most corrupt AG in America because the only standard Trump has is that a person kisses his butt and doesn't let facts and the law get in the way of doing his bidding. Now to wait for all the DeSantis supporters here who claim to not be Trump supporters fall in line with Dear Leader.

[nsacpi]

[nsacpi]

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/news/h...-his-own-party

[Runnin]

Doesn't bode well for other GOP/MAGA crooks who've been caught in the nasty net of justice.

[cajunrevenge]

Ken Paxton now just openly admitting he blocked Harris County(which contains Houston) from sending mail in ballots to all registered voters to help Trump win. Says Trump would have lose the state if that happened. So I guess now that we know the vote was manipulated to help Trump win Texas we can just add those electoral votes to the rightfull winner Joe Biden. So now its 344 electoral votes for Biden and 194 for the Teflon Don. Even more of a massive landslide than we thought.



Disclaimer for Garmel - I am mocking people here, I know your slow so I am including this since you have no sarcasm detector.

[57Brave]

also put Beto O'Rourke in the Governors mansion -- from my reading

[sturg33]

lol 57 has posted that Abrams is the rightful governor of GA... That Andrew Guiliam will be installed governor in Florida, and now Beto will be installed governor in TX.

And y'all have the nerve to make fun of thethe