Ken Paxton impeachment trial: Senators acquit Paxton in second day of deliberations
UPDATE 12:57 P.M.: Senators vote to drop other 4 impeachment articles against Paxton.
UPDATE 12:42 P.M.: Suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton acquitted of impeachment article 19, 14 yays to 16 nays.
UPDATE 12:36 P.M.: Suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton acquitted of impeachment article 18, 14 to 16.
UPDATE 12:30 P.M.: Paxton acquitted on article 17 of impeachment, 14-16.
UPDATE 12:24 P.M.: Paxton acquitted on article 16 of impeachment, 14 yays to 16 nays.
UPDATE 12:18 P.M. Suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton acquitted of impeachment article 15. Articles 11-14 held in abeyance, not considered yet. May be dismissed by Senators.
UPDATE 12:13 P.M.: Paxton acquitted on article 10 of impeachment, with a 14-16 vote.
UPDATE 12:07 P.M.: Paxton acquitted on article 9 of impeachment, 12 yays to 18 nays.
UPDATE 12:01 P.M. Suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton acquitted of impeachment article 8, 8-22.
UPDATE 11:55 A.M.: Paxton acquitted on article 7 of impeachment, with a 14-16 vote.
UPDATE 11:50 A.M.: Suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton acquitted of impeachment article 6, 14-16.
UPDATE 11:40 A.M. Paxton acquitted on article 5 of impeachment, with a 13-17 vote.
UPDATE 11:37 A.M.: Suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton acquitted of impeachment article 4, 2 - 28.
UPDATE 11:31 A.M.: Paxton acquitted on article 3 of impeachment, 14 yays to 16 nays.
UPDATE 11:27 A.M.: Paxton acquitted on article 2 of impeachment, 14 yays to 16 nays.
UPDATE 9:50 a.m. - Jack Fink reports that Texas Senators will begin voting publicly in the Senate chamber on whether to acquit or convict suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton of impeachment at 10:30 a.m.
AUSTIN (CBSNewsTexas.com) - Saturday morning Texas senators began deliberating for a second day in the impeachment trial of Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Now that senators are back at the Capitol, they can't be on their cell phones and they can't talk to their staff. They've been instructed not to watch or read news reports about the trial and not to talk to anyone about it outside the Capitol.
They'll deliberate as long as it takes and there are no more days off until they reach a decision. If senators are still here late tomorrow night, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said he may sequester them, and they may have to sleep in their offices.
Friday, Patrick instructed senators to stay until at least 8 p.m. But a few senators were spotted leaving the Capitol earlier. And the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms confirmed at 7:05 p.m. that multiple senators had left the building.
Read more about the takeaways from Day 9 here.
A two-thirds majority of senators is needed to convict Paxton. That's 21 votes.
If the attorney general is convicted on any one of the 16 articles he's facing in this trial, he will be removed from office. Senators may also vote to bar him from holding office in Texas in the future.
If Paxton is removed from office, the governor will appoint another attorney general, and then there will be a special election in November 2024.
The winner would serve the rest of Paxton's term through 2026, at which point there would be another election.
Paxton is only the third Texas official to be impeached.