The Texas GOP-controlled House of Representatives has recommended an impeachment vote for Attorney General Ken Paxton following nearly a decade of legal complications.
A Texas House committee filed 20 articles of impeachment against Paxton on Thursday evening. The motion came after hearing testimony from the Texas House General Investigating Committee regarding Paxton’s $3.3 million payout for a lawsuit settlement from former aides who accused him of retaliation in 2020.
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Paxton tweeted that the allegations against him were “hearsay and gossip, parroting long-disproven claims” and claimed the House General Investigating Committee “rejected every attempt to seek a full accounting of the truth.”
A majority of the House could vote to remove the attorney general if Paxton does not manage to avoid the impeachment articles, as he’s evaded criminal charges in the past.
State charges
Paxton’s criminal charges date back to 2015, in a separate incident, when the top Republican was indicted on securities fraud charges. Texas prosecutors started to build their case against Paxton after documents were released showing Paxton was not registered with the state board, after providing legal services in Texas.
Paxton was indicted by the Collin County district attorney on two counts of first-degree securities fraud and for failing to register with state securities regulators. Paxton appealed the charges, telling his supporters in an email that he expects “to be fully vindicated of these charges when the full facts of this case come to light,” according to the Texas Tribune.
Paxton appealed the charges, but the court upheld his case, setting his trial for 2017, which has yet to be heard after numerous delays.
Federal charges
In 2016, Paxton was hit with another indictment, this time from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, which charged Paxton with security fraud for allegedly misleading investors in a Texas-based technology company, according to an SEC press release.
Paxton was acquitted of the SEC charges in March 2017, according to a press release from his attorneys.
Whistleblower investigation
Top aides accused Paxton in 2020 of bribery and abusing his office powers in a letter sent to the state agency’s director of human resources. Several senior members claimed the Texas Republican was using his political power to serve the interests of real estate investor Nate Paul, who was a friend and political donor to Paxton.
The aides wrote they believed Paxton violated “federal and/or state law including prohibitions related to improper influence, abuse of office, bribery and other potential criminal offenses.”
The accusations prompted a federal investigation; however, no charges have been filed against Paxton.
Four out of the eight aides who launched the complaint brought the case to the FBI and the Texas Rangers; the lawsuit cites the Texas Whistleblower Act because all of the aides were fired in the weeks following the public knowledge of the letter.
Paxton challenged the lawsuit, claiming the Texas Whistleblower Act is inapplicable. However, a Texas court of appeals denied his motion to dismiss.
The appeal’s opinion states, “The Act provides that a State employer cannot fire an employee because he reports illegal conduct by the employer,” upholding the case.
In February, Paxton agreed to pay $3.3 million to settle the whistleblower lawsuit, which would come from state funds. However, the House and Republican Speaker Dade Phelan have said the payout should not be funded by taxpayers' dollars.
“After over two years of litigating with four ex-staffers who accused me in October 2020 of ‘potential’ wrongdoing, I have reached a settlement agreement to put this issue to rest,” Paxton said in a statement.
If the settlement agreement payout is approved, the whistleblower case will be dismissed. However, if the state legislature does not grant the aides their settlement funding, the case could resume.
Texas House General Investigating Committee
This week, the House General Investigating Committee testified that it found Paxton broke multiple state laws and abused office funds to help Paul.
Erin Epley, lead counsel for the committee, said during the testimony, “The scope of our inquiry was related to malfeasance, which is, you know, unlawful criminal activity; misfeasance, so lawful activity taken in an illegal way, and we have responses in regards to both,” in response to committee Chairman Andrew Murr asking about the course the investigators took for looking into Paxton's violations.
The committee revealed on Tuesday that it began investigating Paxton secretly in March, specifically looking into accusations of wrongdoings over the whistleblower lawsuit filed by four high-ranking aides who claimed Paxton fired them after calling out his misconduct.
In a disruptive turn of events, Paxton accused Phelan of being intoxicated while on the House floor, calling for him to resign. Paxton posted a letter on Twitter addressed to the state House General Investigating Committee, calling for an open investigation into Phelan's behavior while presiding over the chamber.
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"Texans were dismayed to witness his performance presiding over the Texas House in a state of apparent debilitating intoxication," Paxton tweeted.
The criminal case against Paxton has been entangled with years of other jurisdictional matters and ethical inquiries. The next steps would be for the Texas House of Representatives to hold a hearing and vote on whether to impeach the long-standing attorney general.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Ken Paxton, Dade Phelan, Rep. Andrew Murr, and Texas Solicitor General Judd E. Stone for comment.