From Cape You News in Austin,
you're watching Texas this
week with Ashley Good, oh
good Sunday morning.
The rules are set for the
impeachment trial of suspended
Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Suddenly, in a big question what role
Paxton's wife, Senator Angela Paxton,
will play in the trial.
More on that in just a minute.
But first, let's get to the three things
you need to know in Texas polit.
The first special
session of the 88 Texas Legislae
ends this coming Tuesday,
and the House and Senate are still at
an impasse over property tax re.
On Tuesday, the Senate passed a new $18
billion plan 1 Lieutenant Governor Dan
Patrick calls the largest in the world.
Senate Bill 26 would reduce the school
M&amp;O tax rate by $0.10 and lower the
maximum amount school districts
can increase your taxes year ovr
year without an election to 1.7.
It would increase the homestead exemption
to $100,000 and double the franchise tax
exemption for businesses to $2.47 million,
meaning 67,000 small to medium businesses
wouldn't have to pay the franchise tax.
The bill is estimated to save te
average homeowner more than $12n
the first year and homeowners ages 65
and older or disabled more than $1400.
In comparison,
the bill the House passed before
journeying signing die House Bill one.
Uses about $17 billion to lowere
school tax rate by 16.2 cents pr
$100 in home value, saving homeowners,
and estimated $700.00 Speaker oe
House Aid Feeling didn't comment
on the Senate's new plan,
but just before it passed,
he announced the creation of a w
committee to look into property tax relief.
The House Select Study Committee
on Sustainable Property Tax Rel.
Is made-up of 13 lawmakers and e
members of the public.
A Texan is throwing his hat
in the race for the White House.
Former Republican Congressman
Will Hurd announced his
presidential campaign Thursday.
A critic of former President Donald Trump,
the former CIA agent came out swinging.
And if we nominate A lawless,
selfish, failed politician like
Donald Trump who lost the House,
the Senate and the White House,
we all know Joe Biden will
win again. Republicans deserve better.
America deserves better. It's common sense.
The Republican primary is getting crowded.
With 14 declared candidates.
the US Supreme Court delivered
a blow to Texas on Friday.
The High Court rejected Texas ad
Louisiana's attempt to sue the
Biden administration over its
immigration deportation policy.
Back in 2021, the secretary of e
Department of Homeland Security
instructed agents to prioritize
deporting convicted felons or pe
who pose a risk to public safet.
The attorneys general for
Texas and Louisiana sued.
In the court's opinion,
Justice Brett Kavanaugh wrote,
quote, the states have brought n
extraordinarily unusual lawsuit.
They want a federal court to order the
executive branch to alter its at
policies so as to make more arr.
Federal courts have not traditionally
entertained that kind of lawsui.
Governor Greg Abbott responded
to the ruling on Twitter,
calling it outrageous.
After two days of deliberations behind
closed doors, the Senate approved the
rules for the impeachment trialf
suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton.
The trial will start on Tuesday,
September 5th at 9:00 AM.
Each side will have 60 minutes r
opening statements and each geta
total of 24 hours to present evidence.
Each side also gets one hour
of rebuttal of the evidence.
Finally, each side will have an hour to
make a final argument or closing statement.
The trial will be open to the pc
with seating in the Senate gall.
Media is allowed to attend and
the trial will be live streamed.
The lawmakers also decided on te
limited role Paxton's wife say
Senator Angela Paxton will play.
Scott Braddock,
editor of Harvey Kronberg's
The Quorum Report.
Join me to talk about the rules.
You hold no punches when it comes to your
thoughts about the actions of lawmakers.
Tell us your thoughts
about the overall rules.
Fascinating to watch the Senate or not
watch them as they were behind closed
doors for two days trying to hammer out
the rules for the upcoming impeachment
trial of Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Had a lot of people asking
me from around the country.
And, Ashley, it's been interestg
to see how many people around
the whole US are tuned into thi.
It's really interesting you hav,
you know, a situation where Republicans are
potentially going to police one of their own.
I think nationally,
people are only used to tribali,
where it's one party against the other.
But this is a intraparty fight.
The fact that it took them so long to
hammer it out tells me that there was a
lot of contention about one specific thing.
I'm sure there were lots of questions,
but one thing was really on
the minds of senators,
and that was whether the wife of Ken Paxton,
Senator Angela Paxton,
can vote in this deal.
And they decided that she canno,
and in fact,
she can't be in on their private
deliberations when they act as a jury.
She can be present on the floor
when they vote which is signifit
because that means that the threshold
for conviction and removal will
stay the same 2/3 of senators wo
are present that means 21 votes
to convict and remove him.
So there is a little bit of a thumb on the
scale in the direction of Paxton there.
But as you also know based on covering
the Senate the the real meeting
is the one they have behind clod
doors that the the the Texas See
has done this for years where yu
know they have their pre meetinn
you know in a in a private sett.
And then they come out on the fr
and they vote and you know they
vote on amendments,
bills and all of that sort of s.
But it's kind of prescripted bad
on that pre meeting and Angela
Paxton won't be there
something you said or we want to hone in on.
She's still going to count towas
you know the total number neede.
So we need 21 instead of
20 in order to convict.
You don't really talk to us abot
how you think that that in and f
itself because she obviously wod
be a no vote in terms of whethe.
I'm not sure.
You know, I think that you're ye
hitting exactly on the right th,
which is this is the biggest,
most egregious conflict of intet
that someone could possibly hav.
If you or I were on trial for anything,
there's no chance our spouse
would be on the jury, right?
And if you were the defendant ad
one of the allegations had to do
with having an extramarital aff?
Which is the case with Ken Paxt.
You certainly wouldn't want your spouse
to be sitting in judgment of yo.
It could be that they're thick as thieves
and she's with Herman all the w.
Stand by your man like the
Tammy Wynette song.
Or it could be like Carrie Underwood,
as a colleague of mine pointed ,
it could be that he'll learn his
lesson before he cheats next ti.
Either way,
if you're the defense attorneys
you would think it'd be, you kn,
it'd be a good thing that she's
not there or that she can't vot.
But to your point about her being present,
it keeps that threshold the sam.
And if we're doing a headcount
to folks in the Senate,
I think right now, Ashley,
if the trial were held today,
there would be at least a majority of
senators who would be voting to convict.
Now that's not enough because it takes
2/3 to remove the attorney Genel
from office and that's 21 votess
long as all senators are on the floor
and Paxton will be there with t.
But I think it's going to send a strong
message, even if he's not convi,
if there's a majority of
senators who want to convict hi.
Including Republicans,
I think that damages him forward
going going forward politically,
when
you talk about potential witnes,
one of those potential witnesses I would
think would be Senator Brian Hu,
who is mentioned in those
articles of impeachment.
And the rules say that a senator
can be called to be a witness.
How interesting would that be?
Well, get your popcorn out, Ash.
I mean that this is going to be
just incredible to watch. We ar.
We're in so much uncharted water here.
You're right.
There's at least three senators
who I would say are compromise.
That would be Angela Paxton,
who we mentioned, Brian Use,
who you mentioned, who's implicd
in the testimony in the House,
and also Senator Donna Campbell
through no fault of her own.
But one of her staffers is the
person that Ken Paxton's accusef
having a sexual relationship wi.
And so you could say that any
of those people are people who
have conflicts of interest.
Now here's the thing with these rules.
And let's get real here.
There's no way to eliminate allf
the conflicts of interest because when
you're talking about an impeachment process,
it's not a court proceeding,
it's a legislative proceeding.
That means everybody kind of has
some sort of conflict of interet
because everyone involved,
all the House members,
all the Senate members,
and Paxton himself,
everybody in in this is a they'e
all politicians, Ashley.
And so you could say.
That Democrats have a conflict f
interest because he's a Republi.
You could say that his wife hasa
conflict of interest because she's his wife.
You could say that Lieutenant
Governor Patrick has a conflict
because he loaned Paxton money
for a campaign back in 2018.
What they're trying to do with e
rules is eliminate as many confs
of interest as possible and eliminate
the most egregious conflicts,
which of course that one would be his wife,
who is.
Because his spouse, I mean,
you can't make up stuff you couldn't make up,
you know, a novel,
write a novel that would have this many
twists and turns about Texas politics,
that you want the real thing,
You want the drama of the real thing.
And that's we're going to get.
The trial starts September 5th.
Of course, we will have full
coverage for you once it begins.
That's Texas this week.