Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton vehemently rejected the 20 Articles of Impeachment filed against him on Thursday by some Republicans in the Texas State House.
Speaking on behalf of Paxton, his office released a lengthy rebuttal of the articles, saying that a number of them “fail to provide any meaningful evidence“ and were written without a proper understanding of the Attorney General‘s role.
This comes after news broke on Tuesday that the House Committee on General Investigating had initiated a probe into a 2020 lawsuit filed by four former employees of Paxton‘s office. They have accused him of corruption and requested $3.3 million in public money related to the settlement of their complaint.
The same day, Paxton lashed out at House Speaker Dade Phelan and demanded he resign after a video emerged allegedly showing Phelan “in a state of apparent debilitating intoxication“ on the House floor.
The Attorney General‘s office argued that the Article of Impeachment against him for disregarding his duty by “abusing the opinion process,” for example, failed to recognize that the Attorney General is authorized to investigate charitable organizations and protect the public from illegal activity.
With respect to Article VII which pertained to abuse of public resources related to the whistleblower investigation and report, the office of AG Paxton highlighted that it only acted on information it had received.
The documents filed against Paxton also made allegations of constitutional bribery, false statements in official records, misuse of official information, obstruction of justice, and counts of conspiracy, attempted conspiracy, misappropriation of public resources, dereliction of duty, unfitness for office, and abuse of the public trust.
Paxton‘s office felt, however, that none of these articles have provided sufficient proof to warrant an impeachment.
In response, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said on Thursday, “We must protect the process and ensure it is done appropriately, honestly, and fairly.”
Impeachment proceedings against AG Paxton are set to begin Saturday.