Texas AG decries his impeachment as a ‘politically motivated sham’

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) decried his impeachment by the GOP-led Texas House on Saturday as a “politically motivated sham.”

“The ugly spectacle in the Texas House today confirmed the outrageous impeachment plot against me was never meant to be fair or just,” Paxton said in a statement posted to Twitter. “It was a politically motivated sham from the beginning.” 

The Texas House voted 121-23 to impeach the state attorney general after a monthslong investigation produced a variety of allegations against him, including bribery, dereliction of duty, unfitness for office and abuse of public trust. Paxton is suspended from office while he awaits a trial in the state Senate.

Paxton claimed that his office “made every effort” to present evidence that would have disproven the allegations against him and accused the House of refusing to consider “anything that would interfere with their desired result.”

“What we witnessed today is not just about me,” he said. “It is about the corrupt establishment’s eagerness to overpower the millions of Texas voters who already made their voices heard when they overwhelmingly re-elected me.”

“I am beyond grateful to have the support of millions of Texans who recognize that what we just witnessed is illegal, unethical, and profoundly unjust,” Paxton added. “I look forward to a quick resolution in the Texas Senate, where I have full confidence the process will be fair and just.”

The Texas attorney general was reelected in 2018 and 2022, despite being under criminal indictment for securities fraud since 2015 related to conduct from before he took office. 

Former President Trump, who threw his support behind Paxton on Saturday, took aim at Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan after the impeachment vote.

“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?” the former president said in a post on Truth Social.

The post was accompanied by a video of Phelan, in which he appeared to slur his words while at the state House dais. Paxton called for his resignation on Tuesday, alleging that Phelan presided over lawmakers “in a state of apparent debilitating intoxication.”