Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) appointed former Texas Secretary of State John Scott as the interim attorney general of Texas following the Republican-led House vote to impeach Ken Paxton last week.

“John Scott has the background and experience needed to step in as a short-term interim attorney general during the time the attorney general has been suspended from duty,” said Abbott in a press release Wednesday.

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Scott has over 34 years of legal experience and served as the state’s first chief operating officer of the Health and Human Services Commission in 2015.

The Fort Worth resident stepped down as Abbott's secretary of state in 2022, and was previously the Texas attorney general for civil litigation, overseeing more than 22,000 lawsuits involving Texas. He also served as the chairman of the Board for the Department of Information Resources, according to the press release.

Scott briefly joined former President Donald Trump's legal team in an effort to challenge the 2020 election results in Pennsylvania in November 2020, however, he withdrew from the lawsuit a few days later, according to ABC News.

“His decades of experience and expertise in litigation will help guide him while serving as the state’s top law enforcement officer,” Abbott wrote.“I appoint John Scott for this role based on the Texas Constitution to serve for a temporary period during the Texas Senate’s resolution of the impeachment proceedings.”

The House impeachment suspended Paxton from office over allegations of misconduct, including bribery and abuse of office. Paxton was elected attorney general in 2015 and has a long record of legal entanglements, dating back to the early 2010s.

The House General Investigating Committee launched a probe into Paxton starting in March, quietly looking into a $3.3 million payout for a lawsuit settlement from former aides who accused Paxton of retaliation in 2020. Last week, the committee began presenting their findings and recommendations on the floor.

The committee filed 20 articles of impeachment against Paxton on Thursday last week, citing multiple allegations of misusing his official power, improper use of legal opinions to assist a friend, and firing and interfering with the top-aide whistleblowers.

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Paxton has denied the accusations and called the investigation moving to impeach him a “politically motivated sham” in a statement on Twitter on Saturday.

Paxton served three terms before the 149-member House voted 121-23 to impeach him. His case now awaits a trial in the Senate.