Dozens of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s supporters showed up to witness the beginning of the Senate impeachment trial at the Capitol in Austin, Texas, earlier this week.
It has been more than 100 years since a sitting official was impeached in the state of Texas, and some of Mr. Paxton’s supporters believe that the accusations are reminiscent of the actions taken against former President Donald Trump over the past several years.
“I think they’re convicting [Paxton] of their own crimes,” Melissa Fryzel of Seguin, Texas, told The Epoch Times during an interview at the Capitol on Sept. 5. “I mean, that’s what we see all over and what we see at the national level. Just like with Trump, they accuse him of the things that they’re doing.”
Ms. Fryzel said she has been a Republican political activist since 2018 and has been attending each day of the trial.
House impeachment managers have accused the attorney general of misusing his office to help campaign donor and Austin real estate investor Nate Paul, whose Austin home and business, World Class Holdings, were raided by the FBI in August 2019.
Rebecca Broughton, who attended the trial on Sept. 5, told The Epoch Times that the whole matter has been “rush, rush, rush” to “get Ken Paxton out of here.”
“He was doing so good for the conservative values,” she said, noting that he was pushing back against the Biden administration to secure the border and to protect Texans and everyone in the country.
“I really think [the impeachment trial] is sad for Texas,” Ms. Broughton said. “It’s really sad for Texas because all these people are doing is saying your vote does not count.”
Pretrial Motions Rejected
On Sept. 5, the senators rejected all of Mr. Paxton’s pretrial motions to dismiss the impeachment articles.Brian L. Owsley, associate professor of law at the University of North Texas at Dallas, told The Epoch Times that he believes that dismissing the articles would have been unfavorable considering the trial’s attention.
“On some level, the time to short-circuit the impeachment would have been prior to convening the trial,” he said. “It is not a good look after the attention this impeachment trial had to forgo having the trial.”
Mr. Owsley noted that the trial is a “political process” that puts the Republican senators in a difficult position.
“The senators are supposed to listen and consider only the evidence, but as political animals, they are cognizant of polls and their constituents’ views,” he said. “Many of them do not like Paxton, but their constituents voted for him and still support him.”
Mr. Paxton, who’s suspended from office, pleaded not guilty on Sept. 5 to all 20 articles of impeachment against him. He has been absent from the Senate chamber-turned-courtroom since the second half of the first day of the trial.
‘Isn’t It Ironic?’
The House impeachment managers accused Mr. Paxton of intervening in a 2020 lawsuit involving The Mitte Foundation, a charitable organization that provides scholarships to students in Texas, against his deputies’ recommendations, according to the first article of impeachment (pdf).The document states that the foundation invested more than $3 million in Mr. Paul’s real estate development companies in 2011 in order to “grow its money to provide more scholarships.” World Class met its obligations to provide quarterly and annual financial reports until the third quarter of 2018. At that point, Mitte filed a lawsuit against World Class.
Mr. Paul allegedly agreed to buy out the foundation’s partnership in a $10 million settlement, which he ultimately failed to pay. Mitte took the company back to court, according to the impeachment article.
The Office of the Attorney General (OAG) Charitable Trust Division was notified and conducted an investigation consistent with its duty to protect charitable organizations. The OAG determined that it wouldn’t “intervene” but would reconsider if “additional parties or causes of action” were added.
The House impeachment managers claimed that Mr. Paul, who had donated $25,000 to Mr. Paxton’s campaign in 2018, allegedly went to his “friend” for help with the situation, according to the House impeachment committee.
But Paxton attorney Tony Buzbee pointed out that Mr. Paxton’s office got involved after an additional inquiry regarding Mitte was sent to the OAG.
In late September 2020, a group of top deputies from Mr. Paxton’s agency, including first assistant Jeff Mateer, told the FBI that Mr. Paxton had ignored their advice by getting involved in the case. They also claimed that Mr. Paxton hired an outside lawyer to probe the FBI raid on Mr. Paul.
In return for Mr. Paul’s alleged assistance from the OAG, the former employees—all of whom were later either fired or resigned—claimed that Mr. Paul helped hide Mr. Paxton’s extramarital affair and even hired the woman with whom Mr. Paxton was allegedly involved to work for his company.
They also said Mr. Paul paid for renovations at the Paxtons’ home in Austin.
Mr. Mateer testified that he believed that his boss’s actions were illegal, and that was why he and the others from the OAG went to the FBI with their accusations. Mr. Mateer resigned the following day.
However, during Mr. Buzbee’s cross-examination on Sept. 6, Mr. Mateer admitted that he and his colleagues had approved of Mr. Paxton’s office getting involved in the Mitte case.
“I approved the executive memorandum,” Mr. Mateer told Mr. Buzbee in response to whether he was involved in the Mitte intervention.
“Isn’t it ironic that the first witness called in this case for the House on the first article of impeachment that was passed, that this witness—you [Mr. Mateer]—approved that intervention?” Mr. Buzbee replied.
“Isn’t that ironic? Don’t you think that kind of reflects the whole House’s case?”
The federal investigation into the allegations against Mr. Paxton didn’t result in any charges.
Quiet Investigation Launched
In October 2020, a group of former employees filed a lawsuit against Mr. Paxton in what has been described as the “whistleblower” case. The four employees claimed their boss fired them in retaliation for going to the FBI about his alleged wrongdoings.In February, the case was settled for $3.3 million.
“After over two years of litigating with four ex-staffers who accused me in October 2020 of ‘potential’ wrongdoing, I have reached a settlement agreement to put this issue to rest,” Mr. Paxton said in a statement. “I have chosen this path to save taxpayer dollars and ensure my third term as Attorney General is unburdened by unnecessary distractions. This settlement achieves these goals. I look forward to serving the People of Texas for the next four years free from this unfortunate sideshow.”
The House committee quietly launched an investigation into Mr. Paxton over allegations of corruption based on his request for the House to pay his settlement.
In mid-May, Mr. Paxton called for Mr. Phelan to resign after accusing him of being drunk on the House floor. Video footage of Mr. Phelan slurring his speech as he presided over the House was shared across social media. Mr. Phelan didn’t comment on the accusations.
On May 23, the House revealed the investigation into Mr. Paxton and two days later recommended the impeachment of the state’s top lawyer.
On May 27, the House impeached Mr. Paxton in a vote of 121–23.
In early June, Mr. Paul was arrested on eight felony counts of making false statements to lenders concerning his assets and liabilities between March 2017 and April 2018. According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Texas, the lenders were based in Texas, New York, Connecticut, and Ireland.
Mr. Paxton isn’t mentioned in the indictments against Mr. Paul.
Mr. Buzbee said in his opening statements on Sept. 5 that the gag order issued by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick had prevented Mr. Paxton and his lawyers from responding to the false allegations that they believe are politically motivated and have been repeated “over and over” by the media.
The trial resumed for the third day on Sept. 7 and is expected to last about two weeks.
