AUSTIN, Texas — The second day of the impeachment trial of suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton was the first chance for prosecutors to hear new information from a key witness, followed by exhaustive pushback from a defense attorney.

Paxton's lead counsel, Tony Buzbee from Houston, and witness Jeff Mateer spent nearly six hours arguing, frequently interrupted by opposing lawyers who objected to the defense's line of questioning.

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Paxton skips out on second day of trial

The second day of the trial began behind schedule, but the main face of the trial was nowhere on-site.

Paxton, 60, was absent in the chamber and at the defense stand. The suspended attorney general skipped out on attending the trial after Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick ruled on Tuesday he would not be compelled to testify and was no longer required to be present at the proceedings.

However, Paxton's wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, was present and is required to sit through the trial over the next several weeks.

Angela Paxton is one of 31 senators in the chamber but was barred from voting on any pretrial motions and the 16 articles of impeachment because of her conflict of interest.

Intentions of top Paxton aide questioned

The first witness was Mateer, the former first assistant to Paxton whose testimony began on Tuesday afternoon.

Buzbee called into question Mateer's decision to lead a group of deputy attorneys to the FBI instead of going to Paxton again to clear the air about his relationship with Austin real estate developer Nate Paul.

Paxton's lawyers dropped their attorney-client privilege objection to admitting communications with his staff.

"The attorney general has nothing to hide," Buzbee said in explaining the shift to allow House prosecutors to present those communications as evidence.

A second witness takes the stand

The House impeachment managers called their second witness to the stand shortly after 4 p.m. local time on Wednesday.

Ryan Bangert was one of the eight whistleblowers who went forward to the FBI and expressed concerns about Paxton's actions in office. Bangert was deputy first assistant attorney general, directly below Mateer.

Bangert divulged details about the friendship between Paul and Paxton, who viewed themselves as victims of government overreach.

"The attorney general shared with me his view that he had been wronged by law enforcement and was uninterested in having other Texas citizens wronged by law enforcement as well," Bangert said.

Paul sought to obtain state law enforcement records about his requested investigation into how the FBI raided his home in 2019. Paul signed a probable cause affidavit to get the information but did not get far, which prompted him to appeal directly to Paxton for assistance.

When Paxton got involved in pulling strings behind the scenes, Bangert said he became "very concerned."

"You do not want to compromise in any way an ongoing investigation," Bangert said.

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The trial recessed shortly after 6 p.m. and is slated to continue at 9 a.m. Thursday local time.

The House managers have not disclosed other witnesses they will call to testify.