Washington, D.C. isn’t the only political swamp in the United States, but as entrenched players in the Lone Star State have lashed out at threats to their status quo, Donald Trump Jr. threw his weight against the latest “RINO/Dem led witch hunt.”
Much like former President Donald Trump, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) has faced legal challenges since becoming the top cop in 2015. Now, after the majority Republican House appeared to squander much of the legislative session, an effort to impeach the AG has been advanced, reeking of retaliation and steeped with illegality.
Thursday, the House General Investigations Committee filed an impeachment resolution against Paxton containing 20 articles spanning back to 2002. On Friday, Trump Jr. spoke up for the AG, endorsed by his father in the last election, with a scathing shot at the RINOs in Austin.
“What the RINOs in the Texas State House are trying to do to America First patriot Ken Paxton is a disgrace. MAGA stands with @KenPaxtonTX against this RINO/Dem led witch hunt!!!” he wrote, accompanying a statement from Republican Party of Texas Chairman Matt Rinaldi.
The chair had not only summed up the effort to remove Paxton, but the performance of House Speaker Dade Phelan (R) widely considered traitorous to conservative voters, in what has been described as an illegal effort “to overturn the election results.”
“Speaker Dade Phelan and his leadership team have appointed Democrats to high ranking leadership positions, attacked the Republican Party of Texas, battled our conservative Lieutenant Governor, and killed Governor Abbott’s top priorities. The impeachment proceedings against the Attorney General are but the latest front in the Texas House’s war against Republicans to stop the conservative direction of our state,” Rinaldi began.
What the RINOs in the Texas State House are trying to do to America First patriot Ken Paxton is a disgrace.
MAGA stands with @KenPaxtonTX against this RINO/Dem led witch hunt!!! https://t.co/YRhoUdqCjw
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) May 26, 2023
“This sham impeachment is the result of the Phelan leadership team empowering Democrats, allowing them to hold leadership positions and letting them control the agenda,” he continued. “It is based on allegations already litigated by voters, led by a liberal Speaker trying to undermine his conservative adversaries, and investigated by lawyers connected to a Democrat on the House General Investigations Committee.”
At the heart of the allegations against Paxton were accusations of bribery and abuse of office leveled against him in Oct. 2020 by eight of his top aides. Four of those employees had filed a whistleblower lawsuit against the AG after being terminated, alleging Paxton had used his position to intervene on behalf of a real estate developer and donor, Nate Paul.
Those employees were reportedly near a settlement deal for $3.3 million, comprised mostly of lost wages the Texas Scorecard detailed, but the Phelan-led House would not approve the deal.
Instead, shortly after the speaker was asked to step down after appearing inebriated during a session, a secret meeting of the General Investigations Committee was held to produce the seemingly illegal impeachment resolution.
According to Texas Government Code 665.081, “An officer in this state may not be removed from office for an act the officer may have committed before the officer’s election to office.”
Texas state Rep. Steve Toth (R) said Thursday on social media, “It’s really clear. You can’t remove a statewide officeholder under an alleged accusation that occurred before the person was elected, and that’s exactly what they are doing right now. This is an illegal act.”
Paxton was reelected to a third term in the 2022 election, leading Rinaldi to assert, “Now the Texas House is trying to overturn the election results.”
Should the impeachment vote succeed as expected with the full support of the 64 House Democrats and a number of complicit Republicans, Paxton would be the first Texas official impeached in nearly 50 years and he would be temporarily removed from duty until the completion of a Senate trial, and a two-thirds vote would be needed to remove him permanently.
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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