AUSTIN, Texas — The rules for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s historic impeachment trial remained unclear late Tuesday as senators spent much of the day behind closed doors.
Proposed trial rules were distributed to senators in the morning, after which they spent several hours voting on property tax provisions and holding a news conference lauding the passage of that legislation. At 1:30 p.m., the Senate convened a meeting closed to the public without explicitly stating it was debating the proposed rules for impeachment proceedings.
Several senators did not respond to questions about whether they are currently considering the rules. The Senate briefly gaveled back in for a public meeting at 6 p.m. but immediately recessed again until 9 p.m.
The rules had not been released publicly before deadline.
They will set the tone for the trial, in which senators will determine whether Paxton is removed from office after being accused of widespread wrongdoing over several years. The GOP-led Texas House impeached Paxton on May 27; he is suspended from his official duties pending the trial’s outcome.
One of the most highly watched outcomes will be if state Sen. Angela Paxton, the attorney general’s wife, can participate in the proceedings. She remained silent on calls for her to recuse herself until Monday evening, when she issued a statement saying she will “carry out my duties” without explicitly saying whether she’ll vote on her husband’s removal.
The Senate will also likely vote on whether to have live witnesses or depositions; to allow cameras in the chamber; and to follow civil or criminal trial rules. Approval of two-thirds of senators is needed to remove Paxton from his post as attorney general.
Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who as Senate president will preside over the trial, said Monday that the rules would be released this week. He called them “complex” and promised “full transparency.”
“We have to write rules for the trial. There’s some precedent, some law, but it’s 100 years old. So we’ll have to map this out,” Patrick told conservative radio host Mark Davis. He also said that while Paxton’s lawyers have asked for the impeachment to be disposed of quickly, legally the Senate must take up the issue.
“We are required in the (Texas) Constitution to have a trial,” Patrick said.
A statewide official in Texas has not been impeached in more than 100 years; the last impeachment proceedings in the Senate took place in 1975.
Paxton has denied wrongdoing and accused fellow Republicans of targeting him for his conservative policies and thwarting the will of voters, who reelected him last year. On Monday, he sent out a fundraising call in which he called the impeachment proceedings a “kangaroo court” meant to “eliminate America’s most conservative Attorney General.”
The 20 articles of impeachment against Paxton include unfitness for office, dereliction of duty and misappropriation of public resources. He is also accused of lying on his financial disclosures, and for obstructing justice by delaying state criminal trials on securities fraud charges he’s faced for eight years.
At the core of many of the most serious articles of impeachment are allegations that Paxton misused his power to help real estate developer and campaign donor Nate Paul, who was charged with federal financial crimes earlier this month.
The Paul accusations first surfaced more than two years ago, when several of Paxton’s top employees reported him to the FBI for alleged bribery and abuse of office. The employees eventually filed a whistleblower lawsuit, saying the attorney general did favors for Paul at this agency in exchange for help remodeling his Austin home and a job for a woman with whom Paxton was allegedly having an affair.
The House launched an investigation into Paxton earlier this year, which ultimately resulted in his impeachment, when his agency asked for $3.3 million in state money to settle the whistleblower lawsuit. The investigation is ongoing, and subpoenas were issued last month to entities that touch on both Ken and Angela Paxton’s personal and campaign finances.
The trial will have its own price tag. The House impeachment managers hired two high-powered lawyers to present the case for Paxton’s removal from office, both of whom will make $500 an hour, and other associated costs include senators’ per diem.
Paxton brought on two private attorneys, and his agency waived its own ethics rules so that six people could take leave to defend him.
Last week, the attorney general’s separate securities fraud cases were revived after being long stalled when the state’s top appeals court set Houston as the future trial venue. Depending on the timing of the Senate proceedings, this decision means Paxton may be facing a jury of his peers in the fraud trials just as he is also fighting removal from office.
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