After a widely publicized impeachment attempt against him failed miserably, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton had two words for his opponents: “Buckle up.”
According to ABC News, Paxton was acquitted Friday on all of the 16 articles brought before the Texas Senate in an impeachment trial brought by the Texas House, which suspended him in May.
The charges dealt with allegations of corruption, obstruction, bribery and other abuses of office that were related to the FBI’s investigation of a real-estate developer who was also one of the GOP attorney general’s donors.
Both Paxton and the developer, Natin “Nate” Paul, have denied accusations of bribery, with Paxton calling the impeachment articles a “sham” by a weak GOP Texas House. Paul’s trial is set to begin next summer.
While the GOP-led House was able to obtain an impeachment, things were markedly different in the Senate: Not only did the state Senate, which acted as the jury, not reach the supermajority of 21 out of 30 votes necessary to convict on any single one of the articles, they couldn’t even get a simple majority to vote for conviction on any of them.
In addition, the senators voted to dismiss four other impeachment charges