Texas State Senator Angela Paxton voted against a resolution to bar spouses of people on trial for impeachment. Her husband, the suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, is scheduled for an impeachment trial on September 5.
Wednesday night, the Texas Senate voted 25-3 on rules for the upcoming trial that would keep the “spouse of a party to the court of impeachment” from voting or participating in deliberations in the impeachment trial. The rules call this a conflict of interest, citing Article III, Section 22, of the state’s constitution. Prior to the vote, Angela Paxton planned to participate in her husband’s trial, saying “my constituents deserve it,” according to The Houston Chronicle.
Though she can’t participate, she still plans to be present for the trial, the Chronicle reports. However, the included rules also say that a witness can’t hear other witnesses’ testimony; it is unknown whether or not Angela Paxton will be called upon to testify in the trial. Otherwise, the rules are much the same as those for other impeachment trials, according to the Chronicle.
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To be removed, two-thirds of the Senate, or 21 senators, will have to vote to convict Ken Paxton. The 31-member Senate is comprised of 12 Democrats and 19 Republicans. The required count has not been adjusted with Paxton being unable to vote; she will instead be counted as “present.” Despite Angela Paxton being barred from voting, her husband is still supported by many senators, according to the Associated Press.
Ken Paxton was suspended from his role as Texas Attorney General on May 27, when the Republican-controlled Texas House voted to impeach. Ken Paxton faces 20 articles of impeachment, however, four of those articles are not included in the September 5 trial. The Senate may choose to take those specific articles up in a later trial. The four articles involve criminal security cases that are currently pending, according to the Austin American-Statesman.
Many of the other allegations against Ken Paxton involve using the Attorney General’s office to help campaign donor Nate Paul, a real estate investor, according to the Texas Tribune. Paul was being investigated by the FBI on suspicion of fraud. Ken Paxton is accused of hiring another lawyer outside the Attorney General’s office to investigate on behalf of Paul over claims of altered search warrants. When the state’s investigators found no evidence to support Paul’s allegations, Ken Paxton refused to close the case and hired an outside lawyer to keep the investigation going. When the FBI found out, they were able to convince the judge to quash the subpoenas issued by the outside lawyer.
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Ken Paxton is also accused of overriding his office’s previous decision to deny Paul’s lawyers copies of affidavits that would have shown unredacted information about why the search warrants were requested by law enforcement. Though he pressured one of his deputies to release the information to Paul’s lawyers, he was unsuccessful, the Tribune reported.
In addition, he told his office to intervene in a lawsuit against Paul from the Mitte Foundation, a nonprofit that had invested in Paul’s properties. Whistleblowers said that Ken Paxton’s intervention was “for the purpose of exerting pressure on the Mitte Foundation to settle on terms favorable to Nate Paul.”
Paul is also said to have asked Paxton to intervene in a public foreclosure case during the COVID-19 pandemic. A legal opinion initially said that it was fine for the foreclosure sales to go ahead as they did not violate COVID protocols. Despite being outspoken about keeping businesses open during the pandemic, Paxton allegedly had the opinion reworked to say that the sales were not allowed, as in-person gatherings were limited to 10 people at the time, the Tribune reported.