OAN’s Abril Elfi
12:44 PM – Saturday, September 16, 2023
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was acquitted by state senators at his impeachment trial.
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On Saturday, Texas senators freed Paxton after deliberating 16 articles of impeachment for over seven hours the day before.
The Texas Attorney General had been accused of abusing his powers to assist his donor Nate Paul, an Austin real estate investor under federal investigation.
When Lieutenant Governor Dan Patrick (R- Texas) validated the acquittal, Paxton was reinstated in his position immediately after the vote as he had been suspended without pay since May.
Paxton released a statement on X, the social media formerly known as Twitter, celebrating the decision and said that “the truth prevailed.”
“Today, the truth prevailed. The truth could not be buried by mudslinging politicians or their powerful benefactors. I’ve said many times: Seek the truth! And that is what was accomplished,” Paxton said.
The impeachment process began in 2020, when Paxton reportedly asked $3.3 million in government funds to settle a lawsuit with former top staffers who were fired after reporting the attorney general’s conduct to the FBI.
Prosecutors accused the attorney general of abusing his position of power to benefit a friend, Nate Paul, who donated tens of thousands of dollars to the attorney general’s campaign.
According to one of the impeachment articles, Paxton was accused of using employees of the attorney general’s office to write a legal opinion intended to help Paul avoid the foreclosure sale of properties that he and his businesses owned.
Paxton apologized in the settlement but did not admit wrongdoing or accept liability. He denied misconduct and stated in a statement that the deal was reached “to put this issue to rest.”
The 16 articles were analyzed by the Texas House which ultimately resulted in voting to impeach the attorney.
However, aside from acquitting Paxton on the 16 counts under consideration, the Senate concluded to dismiss four additional articles of impeachment submitted by the House that were not heard during the Senate trial.
Reportedly, the remaining four articles dealt with Paxton’s alleged continuing state securities fraud charge which he is still under investigation for.
After the final vote, Patrick reportedly called the two-week trial that started September 5th, a waste of time and resources and said “It never should have happened.”
Nonetheless, this trial only focused on the 16 articles of impeachment and Paxton remains under investigation over his alleged security fraud and will appear in a hearing about the case on October 6th.
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