Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Saturday was acquitted on 16 charges in his state Senate impeachment trial over accusations of repeatedly abusing his office to help a donor.
The outcome is a political victory for Paxton, a hardline conservative and close ally of former President Donald Trump who cast the impeachment proceedings as political retribution over intra-GOP fissures in Texas, where the Republican Party controls all levers of government.
Paxton had been impeached by the Texas House in May after he requested $3.3 million in taxpayer money to settle a lawsuit with former top staffers who had been fired after reporting the attorney general’s conduct to the Federal Bureau of Investigation in 2020.
Whistleblowers accused Paxton of using his authority to benefit political friend Nate Paul, a real estate investor who had donated tens of thousands of dollars to Paxton’s campaign. In the settlement, Paxton apologized but did not admit fault or accept liability. He denied wrongdoing and said in a statement that he had agreed to the settlement “to put this issue to rest.”
One of the impeachment articles accused Paxton of using employees of the attorney general’s office to write a legal opinion intended to help Paul avoid the foreclosure sale of properties that he and his businesses owned.
It was among a series of articles focused on Paxton’s relationship with Paul, including accusations he hired an outside attorney who issued more than 30 grand jury subpoenas while investigating a “baseless complaint” made by Paul, delayed foreclosure sales of Paul’s properties and benefited from Paul hiring a woman with whom Paxton “was having an extramarital affair.”
The articles of impeachment also detailed what are described as Paxton’s efforts to cause “protracted” delays in the securities fraud investigation.
Since that May vote, Paxton has been suspended from office without pay.
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
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