It took 9 days of witness testimony and the jousting of attorneys for the prosecution and defense for senators to decide that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was not guilty of corruption in his dealings with an Austin real estate developer.
On Saturday Paxton was acquitted of 16 article counts of wrongdoing by votes mostly in the range of 14 votes for conviction and 16 against. It required a two-thirds vote of 21 senators out of 30 to convict and had any one of the 16 articles convicted Paxton he would have been taken out of office.
“This is a historic event,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick who acted as the trial’s presiding judge told the senators.
Paxton was suspended from his duties during the trial. He was accused of using his office as attorney general to help Nate Paul a friend and real estate developer to avoid foreclosure of Paul’s Austin properties during the COVID pandemic in 2022. In addition Paxton was accused of using his office to obstruct a federal investigation of Paul on charges of making false statements to fraudulently obtain loans.
The Texas Senate is dominated by Republicans. Paul has been a political donor for Paxton, a Republican.
Members of the Senate deliberated on the case on Friday after closing arguments and voted on Saturday. One senator not allowed a vote because of a conflict of interest was Paxton’s wife Angela.
Paxton faced accusations including disregard for public duty, making false statements, bribery, obstructing justice, conspiracy to defraud, dereliction of duty, abuse of public trust, unfitness for office, misappropriation of public resources and using his office to benefit Paul.
Paul claimed that federal officials who raided his home and business in 2019 did so improperly, changing a search warrant from a search for guns and drugs into a search for records.
Paxton allegedly accepted favors from Paul including making renovations to the AG’s residence and a job for a woman with whom Paxton was having an extramarital affair.
Paxton was also accused of seeking revenge against seven AG staff whistleblowers who went to the FBI on Sept. 30 of 2020.
Paul was charged in an eight-count federal indictment in June of 2023 alleging federal crimes in 2017 and 18. Whistleblowers said in return for an opinion from Paxton halting the foreclosures of Paul’s Austin properties under pandemic rules, Paul donated $25,000 to Paxton’s campaign, remodeled his house and provided a job for Paxton’s then-mistress Laura Olson.
It was rumored that Olson would give testimony but she was never called to the stand. Patrick said Olson was unavailable to testify but the reason was never explained.
Paxton is also accused of directing employees to intervene in a 2018 lawsuit filed by directors of the Roy F. and Joann Cole Mittee Foundation, a quality of life charity nonprofit. The Mittee Foundation invested millions in Paul’s World Class companies in 2011 and then in a dispute over getting access to Paul’s records and getting their money back sued Paul in 2018. In July of 2019 the parties reached a settlement agreement to have World Class buy Mittee’s interest in the companies for $10.5 million.
Prosecution attorneys said the settlement deal Mittee received was at a loss to the charity.
Both the prosecution and the defense lawyers were allotted 24 hours to bring forth witnesses and question them, and cross examine, as well as an hour for opening and closing remarks. Patrick explained that the trial was not litigation in the normal courtroom sense but 16 articles of impeachment, or 16 trials within a trial. It would only take one article conviction for Paxton to be removed from office. Should he be removed as AG the senators could then vote to bar Paxton from holding a future elective office.
During the trial’s run the prosecution called more witnesses than did the defense. Defense attorneys appeared to place greater effort on debunking the claims of prosecution witnesses and attacking the articles of impeachment rather than calling their own witnesses.
Prosecution attorneys made their case alleging that Paxton has become irrationally fixated on illegally helping his friend Paul and his business deals by obstructing a federal investigation of Paul. In return Paxton allegedly received favors from Paul including renovations to his home paid by Paul and a job for Olson. Far more time spent on helping Paul than was spent on more pressing concerns like an ongoing COVID epidemic and leading a multi-state antitrust lawsuit against the internet giant Google.
Defense attorneys sought to portray the case as simply a group of disloyal and disgruntled AG employees who got the wrong idea about Paxton a kindly boss and who once they made charges against him “were in too deep” to back down and admit wrong.
During the trial several of the witnesses were asked if they were a RINO. RINO, an acronym stands for “Republican in name only.” It means that someone is insufficiently Republican or conservative. Asked mostly by defense attorneys, all the witnesses said that they were not RINOS.
After Paxton’s acquittal Patrick blasted the Texas House for what he indicated was its wasteful and hasty shuffling of the case onto the Senate, when the impeachment process could have been stopped in the House.
“This is the hardest vote you’ll cast and the one for which you will be remembered,” Patrick told the senators. “The House sent the case to the Senate after only a few days and its members paid no attention to precedent. The evidence was available to the House for weeks.”
Patrick said 23 House members voted against impeachment.
He said the defendant Paxton had no chance to cross examine witnesses in the House through his lawyer nor was testimony from witnesses taken under oath. He indicated that the impeachment process needs to be revamped under the Texas Constitution so that future wasteful exercises like this one won’t be repeated.
“Otherwise anyone can say anything (not under oath) that they want,” Patrick warned.
Patrick said that unlike Paxton, Donald Trump did not have to step down from his office during his impeachment.
He indicated that the Texas House had abrogated and shuffled responsibility of deciding the case onto the Senate referring to it as the “fact finding body.”
“That is not true,” Patrick said.
Patrick said he would call for a full audit of the House impeachment process to determine its cost to the state.
Finishing, Patrick called Texas the best place on earth, an example of the America that America used to be.
Paxton’s legal troubles are not over. He still faces federal securities fraud charges in a case that has been pending in an indictment made just after he took office in 2015.