One of the most powerful Republicans in the state of Texas has been recommended for impeachment.
By his fellow Republicans.
A GOP-led committee in the Texas House of Representatives investigating Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Thursday evening that his alleged abuses of power rose to a possible criminal level and warranted impeachment.
As The New York Times reports:
The recommendation thrust the State Capitol and its Republican leadership into uncharted political territory in the waning days of the legislative session, setting the stage for the House to hold a vote on impeachment, its first in decades and one of the few ever conducted in the state's history.
If he is impeached, Mr. Paxton, who has been under a separate criminal indictment since 2015, would be required to step down from his post temporarily while facing trial in the State Senate.
“There's really no precedent — we've really only had two impeachments under the constitution of 1876,” said Mark P. Jones, a professor of political science at Rice University. They include the governor in 1917, who resigned the day before the Senate convicted him, and a district judge who was convicted and removed in the 1970s.
Before the vote, the committee met in an executive session, outside public view.
Paxton has been reelected twice, first by a relatively narrow 3.56% margin of victory in 2018 and by 9.7% in 2022.
Thursday's vote came after hours of testimony by a team of former prosecutors tasked with investigating how Paxton allegedly abused his office to help enrich a wealthy real estate developer, hire a woman he was having an affair with and retaliate against whistleblowers.
In February, Paxton agreed to a $3.3 million settlement with four former aides who had accused him of corruption and retaliation.
Paxton has increasingly spoken out against the investigation in a budding war of words and accusations.
This is a breaking news story. Click refresh for the latest updates.
READ NEXT: DeSantis Launches Campaign, Pledging ‘Great American Comeback'
A Texas problem.
By RINOs or TX MAGA??