The Texas Report 9/5

The Texas Report 9/5

What’s Happening:

Today is the first day of the impeachment trial for suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton.

The Trial begun at 9:00 a.m. and can be streamed here:

We will be doing an in-depth recap tomorrow, but we wanted to make sure you had the opportunity to watch it and provide some context on why this is happening.

In May, during the most recent Texas Legislative Session, the Republican-led House of Representatives impeached Paxton on accusations of bribery, dereliction of duty, and abuse of office.

The House impeachment began with an investigation into Paxton after he agreed to settle a lawsuit and pay whistleblowers $3.3 million in taxpayer dollars.

This Trial and most impeachment allegations hinge on Paxton’s relationship with real estate investor and political donor Nate Paul. Paxton is accused of misusing his office to help Paul in return for free home renovations and the investor’s help covering up the attorney general’s extramarital affair by creating fake Uber accounts and hiring Paxton’s mistress. Earlier this year, Paul was charged with eight felony counts of making false statements to financial institutions.

The House impeachment managers allege Paxton hired a lawyer in the Office of Attorney General to carry out Paul’s bidding — allowing him to use the attorney general’s office as his “concierge law firm” and harness its investigative powers to harass business rivals and other perceived enemies.

Lt. Governor Dan Patrick will act as judge, with state senators serving as jurors. The House impeachment managers are supposed to make the first opening remarks.

Since his House impeachment, allies of Paxton and conservative activists have engaged in a significant paid campaign to classify the impeachment as an attempt by democrats to subvert the voter’s 2020 election decision. This has included actively paying conservative social media influencers (without any disclosure) to promote pro-Paxton and anti-impeachment talking points.

Things to Remember:

• There are 16 articles of impeachment being considered by the Texas Senate.

• The 16 articles accuse Paxton of bribery, dereliction, and disregard of official duty.

• Nearly 4,000 pages of evidence provide granular detail of how Paxton allegedly misused his office to help Nate Paul, who was being investigated by federal authorities as his businesses were floundering.

• Republican Senators are facing the most important votes of their political careers, potentially resulting in an upheaval of one of the state’s most powerful politicians. And provide an opportunity for some looking to move into higher office.

Great summary on all the major players involved: