PAXTON IMPEACHED!

TPM reports “The Texas State House impeached Attorney General Ken Paxton by an overwhelming vote of 121-23. Under Texas state law Paxton is immediately suspended from office pending his Senate trial.”

From the NYT:

Lawmakers in the Texas House voted on Saturday to impeach Ken Paxton, the state’s Republican attorney general, temporarily removing him from office over charges that he had used his elected position to benefit himself and a campaign donor.

The extraordinary vote, which came after several hours of debate, was one of the few ever taken in the Texas Capitol and the first impeachment of a statewide office holder since 1917. It comes after a bipartisan House committee, led by Republicans, filed 20 articles of impeachment against Mr. Paxton this week, detailing actions that the panel unanimously had decided made him unfit for office.

The impeachment means Mr. Paxton will be temporarily removed from office pending a trial in the State Senate, where some of his closest allies, including his wife, will serve as jurors. The Senate proceedings could well be delayed until after the regular legislative session, which ends on Monday.

The final vote was 121 members in favor of impeachment and 23 against, with two abstaining. It went well beyond the 75 necessary for a majority.

Representative Andrew Murr, the Republican chair of the House investigating committee that recommended impeachment, closed by urging his colleagues to impeach.

“The evidence presented to you is compelling and is more than sufficient to justify going to trial,” he said, adding: “Send this to trial.”

Mr. Paxton, 60, who has denied any wrongdoing, condemned his impeachment as “illegal, unethical, and profoundly unjust.” He had “full confidence,” he said, that the process in the Senate would be “fair and just.”

Mr. Paxton has been one of the chief antagonists of the Biden administration on a range of issues, including the Affordable Care Act and immigration on the southern border.

He was elected to a third term last year even after the alleged offenses were prominently raised during the campaign. He has accused the more moderate Republican leadership of the House of acting in concert with Democrats to oust him.

A member of the House investigating committee, Charlie Geren, said during the proceedings that Mr. Paxton had been personally lobbying members to vote against the impeachment. “Several members of this House on the floor of this House,” he said, “received a telephone call from General Paxton personally threatening them with political consequences in their next election.”

Former President Donald J. Trump called the proceedingts ‘very unfair,” and urged Republicans to block impeachment efforts. He attacked the House speaker, Dade Phelan, on social media immediately after the vote, accusing him of bearing responsibility for impeaching an attorney general who “has done an outstanding job.”

It is not yet clear when Mr. Paxton will face trial in the State Senate, where two-thirds of the chamber must vote to convict him in order to permanently remove him from office. An interim state attorney general can be appointed by Gov. Greg Abbott.

Line up the circular firing squad. Ready - Fire! - Aim.

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