The Texas House of Representatives has officially voted to impeach Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on allegations of abuse of office, conspiracy, and securities fraud. Additionally, Paxton was impeached for interfering in the investigations and lawsuits against him, failing to make reports about his finances with the Texas Ethics Commission, dereliction of duty, being unfit for office, and abusing public trust. 

This was the conclusion of the Texas House General Investigative Committee’s 20 Articles of Impeachment against Paxton. The Committee unanimously voted last week for the recommendation that the Texas House of Representatives impeach Paxton.

Paxton responded to the Committee’s findings as false and the House’s vote as political attacks against him. That has been Paxton’s position against many of the allegations that have haunted him during his time as Attorney General. Ken Paxton has faced scrutiny, allegations, and lawsuits for most of his career as the Attorney General of Texas.

Specifically, the articles of impeachment accused Paxton of abusing his office to benefit and help a friend and political donor Nate Paul, plus other political donors, with legal help. With this, Paxton was accused of bribery due to the fact it appears he received benefits for helping out his friend and political donator Nate Paul, founder of the multibillion-dollar company World Class Holdings. Paul had renovated Paxton‘s house and had given a job to Paxton‘s mistress at the time. Paxton was judged for using his office to unethically benefit Paul by  protecting him while he was under FBI investigation.

The impeachment against Paxton also had to do with former employees of the Texas Attorney General’s Office who spoke out about Paxton’s actions to the FBI and Justice Department. This launched an investigation into Paxton by the Justice Department, but the employees who spoke out against Paxton were all fired. The House General Investigative Committee accused Paxton of making a sham investigation into the matter that reported he did nothing. The whistleblowers sued Paxton, and for the past several years Paxton faced a whistleblower lawsuit. Eventually, a settlement was set to resolve the issue for $3.3 million dollars. 

As the New York Times put it, “Many of the charges related to the various ways that Mr. Paxton had used his office to benefit [Nate] Paul…and then fire those in the office who spoke up against his actions.”

Other articles of impeachment against Paxton focused on him committing securities fraud almost a decade ago when he was gathering investors for a start-up company but did not inform them that he was getting paid to do so, which is illegal in Texas. 

These allegations have hung over the Texas Attorney General for years. Why did the Texas House impeach him now?  

To settle the whistleblower lawsuit, Paxton wanted to use public dollars, which his lawyers claimed was in accordance with the Texas Whistleblower Act. Under this law, employees of government agencies that are fired for whistleblowing can sue the agency, not an individual person. Because of this, Paxton’s lawyers argue that the government is supposed to pay for the lawsuit. 

Paxton made the request to the Texas Legislature to use public money to settle the lawsuit. However, the House was against using public dollars to pay for Paxton’s settlement. In response to Paxton’s request, the House General Investigative Committee investigated the lawsuit, how it started, and plunged into the allegations against Paxton. The Committee, which also included House Representative David Spiller, voted unanimously that the House of Representatives impeach Paxton. 

Now that Paxton is impeached, he is suspended temporarily from his office. He will not get to finish his term unless he is acquitted by the Senate which will now take up his case no later than August 28th. The Texas Senate needs to give a 2/3 vote in favor of impeaching Paxton for him to be immediately removed from office. Or they can acquit him, and he resumes his office of Attorney General. Paxton‘s wife is a state senator and it is unknown if she will be allowed to vote in his proceedings.

Paxton is only the third state official to be impeached in the entire history of the state of Texas.