Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was impeached by an overwhelming majority of the state House in late May on articles that included bribery and abuse of public trust.

Today his impeachment trial in the state Senate is expected to begin around 2PM ET and you can watch it below:

 
According to the Associated Press, “Paxton sat at the defense table Tuesday morning watching senators overwhelmingly reject his numerous requests to dismiss many of the 20 impeachment charges right off the bat.”

They add “A two-thirds majority — or 21 senators — is required for conviction, meaning that if all 12 Senate Democrats vote against Paxton, they still need at least nine of the 19 Republicans to join them.”

Here’s what they write that all this is about:

“The charges mostly center on the attorney general’s relationship with a wealthy donor and Austin real estate developer, Nate Paul, who has been indicted on federal charges of making false statements to banks to obtain more than $170 million in loans. Former aides reported Paxton to the FBI in 2020, accusing him of breaking the law to help Paul.”

“The trial will likely bring forth new evidence. But the outline of the allegations against Paxton has been public since 2020, when eight of his top deputies reported him to the the FBI.

The deputies — largely conservatives whom Paxton handpicked for their jobs — told investigators that Paxton had gone against their advice and hired an outside lawyer to probe the FBI’s allegations of Paul’s wrongdoing. They also said Paxton pressured his staff to take other actions that helped Paul.

In return, Paul allegedly hired a former aide to a Republican state senator with whom Paxton acknowledged having had an affair and bankrolled the renovations of one of the attorney general’s properties, a million-dollar home in Austin.

The two men bonded over a shared feeling that they were the targets of corrupt law enforcement, according to a memo by one of the staffers who went to the FBI. Paxton was indicted on securities fraud charges in 2015 but has yet to stand trial. The Senate is not taking up, at least initially, three impeachment articles about the alleged securities fraud and a fourth related to Paxton’s ethics filings.

Federal prosecutors continue to examine Paul and Paxton’s relationship, so the evidence presented during his impeachment trial poses a legal as well as a political risk to the attorney general.

After going to the FBI, all eight of Paxton’s deputies quit or were fired. Their departures led to an exodus of other seasoned lawyers and saw the attorney general’s office consumed by dysfunction behind the scenes.

Four of the deputies later sued Paxton under the state whistleblower act. The bipartisan group of lawmakers who led Paxton’s impeachment in the House said it was him seeking $3.3 million in taxpayer funds to settle with the group that prompted them to investigate his dealings.”

As always, live streams are open threads.