Republican state senator from NTX asks possibility of reopening AG Paxton impeachment case
NORTH TEXAS — State Senator Drew Springer fired off a letter to Lt. Governor Dan Patrick and the 30 other Senators Thursday asking if it's possible to reopen impeachment proceedings against Ken Paxton.
It comes after the Attorney General announced that he was no longer contesting the civil lawsuit brought by four whistleblowers, which ultimately led to Paxton's impeachment in the Texas House.
In an interview Friday, Springer, R-Muenster, told CBS News Texas, "I was offended by that. We've taken our jobs seriously, go down and hear the trial and if you're now going to come out and say what the whistleblowers said leading into the impeachment is accurate, then I think we need to reopen it."
A majority of Republican Senators, including Springer, acquitted Paxton in a trial held in the Texas Senate chamber in September.
Springer, whose district includes parts of Frisco and Denton County, is not running for reelection this year
In his letter to the Senate, Springer wrote, "Recent developments have made me question whether AG Paxton and his legal team misled the Senate."
During the interview Springer said, "Ken Paxton has spent more time fighting deposition, where most businesspeople have been deposed in a lawsuit. You go in for four to six hours, you tell the truth, and you go out and if you're honest, and haven't done anything wrong, it's dismissed."
Appellate attorney David Coale of Dallas, who's not part of the impeachment case, told CBS News Texas the legislature can't re-open Paxton's prior impeachment case and that lawmakers would have to start the process all over.
"The Constitution says, start with the House. They have articles, they pass them. it goes to the Senate, You have a trial and there's just nothing in there about well, you can do it over again if enough people want to."
In response, Paxton released a statement saying, "Springer has to leave the Senate because he was such a bad senator, wasn't going to get re-elected, and needed a job. Why should anyone listen to his sour grapes."
When asked about Paxton's statement Springer said, "I think he's trying to give a lot of smoke and personal attacks rather than address the fact that he filed something that said he's guilty."
In the whistleblower case, the judge ordered Paxton to sit for a deposition under oath on February 1st, but on Thursday night, Paxton appealed to the Third District Appeals court to have that order thrown out.
On Friday evening, the appeals court denied Paxton's request.
His next option is to appeal to the Texas Supreme Court.
The whistleblowers filed suit against the Attorney General's Office claiming they were wrongfully fired after they went to the FBI more than three years ago to report allegations of bribery among other things against Paxton
Paxton has denied any wrongdoing despite his office's announcement they will no longer challenge the lawsuit.
Still, if there is a settlement in the whistleblower case, Springer said he believes the Attorney General needs to come clean before lawmakers sign off. "If Ken Paxton is not deposed, he needs to come before the committee and testify under oath, so we know what the facts are and why we would be using taxpayer dollars to resolve this."
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