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   From: nowomr@protonmail.com   
      
   GOP-led Texas House panel issues 20 impeachment counts against state   
   Attorney General Ken Paxton   
      
      
   AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Following years of scandal, criminal charges and   
   corruption accusations, Texas's Republican Attorney General, Ken Paxton,   
   finds himself on the brink of impeachment, and a GOP-led panel is heading   
   the charge.   
      
   In an unanimous decision, a Republican-led House investigative committee   
   that spent months quietly looking into Paxton recommended impeaching the   
   state's top lawyer Thursday on 20 articles, including bribery, unfitness   
   for office and abuse of public trust.   
      
   The House could vote on the recommendation as soon as Friday. If it   
   impeaches Paxton, he would be forced to leave office immediately.   
      
   The move sets up what could be a remarkably sudden downfall for one of the   
   GOP's most prominent legal combatants, who in 2020 asked the U.S. Supreme   
   Court to overturn President Joe Biden's victory. Only two officials in   
   Texas’ nearly 200-year history have been impeached.   
      
   Paxton has been under FBI investigation for years over accusations that he   
   used his office to help a donor. He was separately indicted on securities   
   fraud charges in 2015, but has yet to stand trial.   
      
   When the five-member committee's investigation came to light Tuesday,   
   Paxton suggested it was a political attack by the House's “liberal”   
   Republican speaker, Dade Phelan. He called for Phelan’s resignation and   
   accused him of being drunk during a marathon session last Friday. Phelan’s   
   office brushed off the accusation as Paxton attempting to “save face.”   
      
   “It's is a sad day for Texas as we witness the corrupt political   
   establishment unite in this illegitimate attempt to overthrow the will of   
   the people and disenfranchise the voters of our state,” Paxton said in a   
   statement Thursday, calling the committee’s findings “hearsay and gossip,   
   parroting long-disproven claims.”   
      
   By moving against him, Paxton said, “The RINOs in the Texas Legislature   
   are now on the same side as Joe Biden.”   
      
   Impeachment requires a majority vote of the state’s usually 150-member   
   House chamber, which Republicans now control 85-64, since a GOP   
   representative resigned ahead of an expected vote to expel him.   
      
   It’s unclear how many supporters Paxton may have in the House, where he   
   served five terms before becoming a state senator. Since the prospect of   
   impeachment suddenly emerged Wednesday, none of Texas' other top   
   Republicans have voiced support for Paxton.   
      
   The articles of impeachment issued by the investigative committee, which   
   include three Republicans and two Democrats, stem largely from Paxton’s   
   relationship with one of his wealthy donors. They deal heavily with   
   Paxton's alleged efforts to protect the donor from an FBI investigation   
   and his attempts to thwart whistleblower complaints brought by his own   
   staff.   
      
   The timing of a vote by the House is unclear. Rep. Andrew Murr, the   
   Republican chair of the investigative committee, said he did not have a   
   timeline and Phelan’s office declined to comment.   
      
   Unlike in Congress, impeachment in Texas requires immediate removal from   
   office until a trial is held in the Senate. Republican Gov. Greg Abbott   
   could appoint an interim replacement. Abbott's office did not respond to   
   requests for comment on the impeachment counts.   
      
   Final removal would require two-thirds support in the Senate, where   
   Paxton’s wife’s, Angela, is a member. Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, a Republican   
   and leader of the Senate, did not respond to requests for comment.   
      
   Paxton, 60, faces ouster at the hands of GOP lawmakers just seven months   
   after easily winning a third term over challengers — among them George P.   
   Bush — who had urged voters to reject a compromised incumbent but   
   discovered that many didn't know about Paxton's litany of alleged misdeeds   
   or dismissed the accusations as political attacks.   
      
   The attorney general characterized his potential impeachment as “a   
   critical moment for the rule of law and will of Texas voters.”   
      
   Even with Monday’s end of the regular session approaching, state law   
   allows the House to keep working on impeachment proceedings. It also could   
   call itself back into session later. The Senate has the same options.   
      
   In one sense, Paxton's political peril arrived with dizzying speed: The   
   House committee investigation came to light Tuesday, followed the next day   
   by an extraordinary public airing of alleged criminal acts he committed as   
   one of Texas' most powerful figures.   
      
   But to Paxton's detractors, who now include a widening share of his own   
   party in the Texas Capitol, the rebuke was years in the making.   
      
   In 2014, he admitted to violating Texas securities law over not   
   registering as an investment advisor while soliciting clients. A year   
   later, Paxton was indicted on felony securities charges by a grand jury in   
   his hometown near Dallas, where he was accused of defrauding investors in   
   a tech startup. He has pleaded not guilty to two felony counts carrying a   
   potential sentence of five to 99 years in prison.   
      
   He opened a legal defense fund and accepted $100,000 from an executive   
   whose company was under investigation by Paxton's office for Medicaid   
   fraud. An additional $50,000 was donated by an Arizona retiree whose son   
   Paxton later hired to a high-ranking job but was soon fired after trying   
   to make a point by displaying child pornography in a meeting.   
      
   But what has unleashed the most serious risk to Paxton is his relationship   
   with another wealthy donor, Austin real estate developer Nate Paul.   
      
   Several of Paxton's top aides in 2020 told the FBI that they had became   
   concerned the attorney general was misusing the powers of his office to   
   help Paul over unproven claims that an elaborate conspiracy to steal $200   
   million of his properties was afoot. The FBI searched Paul's home in 2019   
   but he has not been charged and his attorneys have denied wrongdoing.   
   Paxton also told staff members that he had an affair with a woman who, it   
   later emerged, worked for Paul.   
      
   The impeachment charges cover myriad accusations related to Paxton’s   
   dealings with Paul. The allegations include attempts to interfere in   
   foreclosure lawsuits and improperly issuing legal opinions to benefit   
   Paul, and firing, harassing and interfering with staff who reported what   
   was going on. The bribery charges stem from Paul allegedly employing the   
   woman with whom Paxton had an affair in exchange for legal help and Paul   
   allegedly paying for expensive renovations to Paxton's Austin home.   
      
   Other charges date back to Paxton’s still-pending 2015 felony securities   
   fraud indictment, including lying to state investigators.   
      
      
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