Impeached and suspended Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton will not testify at his impeachment trial, his attorney confirmed Monday.

Tony Buzbee, Paxton's defense lawyer, released a lengthy statement late Monday night saying the Texas Republican would fight efforts to force his testimony.

SENATE IMPEACHMENT TRIAL OF AG PAXTON SCHEDULED TO BEGIN SEPT. 5

"General Paxton will not dignify the illegal House action by testifying," Buzbee's statement said. "The House has ignored precedent, denied him an opportunity to prepare his defense, and now wants to ambush him on the floor of the Senate."

"We will not bow to their evil, illegal, and unprecedented weaponization of state power in the Senate chamber," the statement continued.

Calling the Texas House chamber a "kangaroo court" that has denied Paxton "basic constitutional rights," Buzbee said, "Speaker [Dade] Phelan’s disciples, who he personally appointed to be House Impeachment Managers, have refused to turn over any evidence at all — even though it has always been provided to the respondent in every other Texas impeachment proceeding."

"No one should expect Attorney General Paxton now to surrender his own constitutional rights, allowing liberals to set a dangerous precedent that would encourage future kangaroo courts and sham proceedings such as the one brought by the Texas House," the statement continued.

The Republican-led House passed 20 articles of impeachment against Paxton in late May, most of which accuse the third-term attorney general of misusing his office to help wealthy real-estate developer and campaign donor Nate Paul.

Paxton was suspended from office after his impeachment, and the Senate is set to begin the trial on Sept. 5, over which Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick will preside.

As the presiding officer, Patrick will have the "power to compel the attendance of witnesses," according to trial rules passed by the Senate last month.

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Paxton has argued that the impeachment is "illegal" because Texas law states elected officials cannot be removed from office for something they did before their election, which the attorney general says applies to actions taken before his reelection in 2022, according to the Texas Tribune.

"The articles of impeachment are meritless and absurd, and would have never been brought to the House floor or any Texas court in a credible proceeding," Buzbee's statement continued. "This is about silencing conservatives, eliminating an effective political opponent, and overturning an election."