Ken Paxton impeachment trial ends with acquittal, political barbs
AUSTIN (CBSNewsTexas.com) - After a two-week trial and hours of deliberations, senators voted to acquit Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on 16 impeachment articles of impeachment that accused him of abusing his office to benefit himself and a campaign donor.
Texas senators acquit Attorney General Ken Paxton on all articles of impeachment
The vote means Paxton, who had been suspended, has his job back.
Immediately after Paxton was acquitted on the final article, senators voted to dismiss an additional four charges against the attorney general that had been held in abeyance.
In his closing remarks, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who acted as a judge and has been publicly impartial throughout the trial, sharply criticized House Republicans for impeaching Paxton.
"The Speaker and his team rammed through the first impeachment of a statewide official in Texas in over 100 years while paying no attention to the precedent that the House set in every other impeachment before," Patrick said.
Patrick also said millions of dollars were wasted on the impeachment and said he would be requesting an audit on it.
Speaking outside of the Senate Chamber, Republican Sen. Bob Hall agreed.
"I voted for dismissal on all of this because the procedure was not followed," Hall said, "and we should never have had the trial."
While the senators mostly voted along party lines, on most of the impeachment articles, Republicans Kelly Hancock of North Richland Hills and Robert Nichols of Jacksonville joined Democrats in several of their votes to convict.
Hancock issued a statement after the acquittal, saying in part that it was his "constitutional obligation to seek the truth" and that his votes were not taken lightly.
Democratic Sen. Nathan Johnson of Dallas praised Nichols and Hancock.
"They voted their conscience," he said. "They voted their intellect, and they were careful. They were courageous."
Johnson also said more Republican senators were on the fence during deliberations until they learned how others would vote.
"It was clear there were not going to be enough votes to convict," he said. "And then the dam breaks."
Democratic Sen. Royce West of Dallas said he was disappointed because of the message he believes the verdict sends.
"Frankly, what we did today, we lowered the bar," he said. "We lowered the expectation bar for fitness for office in the future."
In a press conference held Saturday afternoon, the chair and co-chair of the House Board of Managers defended the impeachment of Ken Paxton and pushed back on Patrick's attacks.
"This trial painted an accurate and clear picture of an out-of-control attorney general," Republican Rep. Andrew Murr of Junction said.
Asked by a reporter what he would do differently, he answered, "I would not do anything differently."
Attorney General Paxton was not in the Senate chamber Saturday morning. But his wife, Sen. Angela Paxton of McKinney, was. She was required to be present for the entire trial, but was not allowed in deliberations or to cast a vote.
After Lt. Gov. Patrick gaveled out, Sen. Paxton walked over to her husband's defense team to shake their hands.
Tony Buzbee and Mitch Little, both defense lawyers for Paxton, told reporters they received no leaks during this process and didn't know how the votes would turn out.
"This is good and now it's over and Ken Paxton is the attorney general of the state of Texas," Little said.
Buzbee added, "The attorney general is excited and ready to get back to work."
