On May 27, the Texas House voted 121–23 to impeach Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Paxton's allies across the country were quick to paint the impeachment as a political assassination by politicians hostile to the Republican attorney general's conservative stances. His opponents countered by saying that the evidence against him was significant. The allegations themselves against Paxton are often lost in the back-and-forth.
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Paxton is being impeached over accusations of bribery, obstruction of justice, and misappropriation of public resources. Most of these are centered on whistleblower accusations of misconduct in an investigation into a friend and political donor of Paxton's.
In 2020, seven whistleblowers came forward to the FBI. They alleged wrongdoing on the part of Paxton in an investigation into Nate Paul, a Houston real estate investor under federal investigation for fraud.
Paxton had taken such personal interest in the case, the whistleblowers alleged, that it began to set off alarm bells among the high-ranking deputies. In a September meeting with the FBI, they accused their boss of engaging in obstruction of justice, abusing his office, harassment, and taking bribes from Paul, the Texas Tribune reported.
Paxton's campaign had received $25,000 from Paul in 2018, followed by another $25,000 in 2020 through an affiliated Super PAC, according to the whistleblowers. They added that an affiliate of Paul's had also carried out expensive renovations for Paxton for free, and Paul's company had hired a woman the attorney general was allegedly having an affair with.
Following the meeting, the whistleblowers informed Paxton of what they had done. Before long, all of them had been fired or resigned. An eighth whistleblower was fired as well.
The whistleblowers successfully sued Paxton for retaliation, winning a $3.3 million settlement last year.
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The FBI opened an investigation into Paxton after the meeting with the whistleblowers and earlier this year transferred the investigation to the Department of Justice. The investigation is ongoing.
The evidence presented to the Texas House was seen by 121 state representatives, nearly half of whom were Republicans, as sufficient to impeach Paxton. His trial will be held in the state Senate, and it must start by Aug. 28, according to ABC News.