And we have breaking news tonight.
Just over an hour ago,
the Texas House voted to impeach
Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Here's that historic moment.
They've been
121 hours and 23 days to
present not voting 3 absent.
The resolution is adopted.
Let's give you some context on why
Attorney General Ken Paxton was impeached.
This has been in the works
for a very long time.
In 2020, several former attorney
General's office aides came forward
saying they'd been fired after
reporting Paxton for taking bribes.
They said Paxton abused his power to benefit
a friend and political donor named Nate Paul,
who's an Austin businessman.
And earlier this year in February,
Paxton was ordered to pay $3.3 million to
settle the lawsuit with whistleblowers.
He wanted to use taxpayer money for that.
In March, the House General Investigating
Committee started looking into Paxton
and those whistleblower firings.
Then we Fast forward to this week.
On Tuesday, the committee announced
that it would subpoena Paxton.
And on Wednesday morning,
the committee heard from investigators
who testify that they believe Paxton
misspent office funds and misused
his power to benefit Nate Paul.
The committee adopted articles
of impeachment on Thursday,
and today the House voted to
impeach the Attorney General.
Tony, All of this goes back to several years.
Why is this happening now?
And what's next?
And Darren Isha, that is one of the
striking things about all of this.
Keep in mind these allegations
against Ken Paxton were brought
forward by those aides,
as you, as you mentioned,
back in October 2020.
They went to the FBI and
said we believe our boss,
the Attorney General of Texas,
is committing a number of crimes
that triggered what is now an
ongoing investigation by the
Department of Justice and by the FBI.
But Darren Nisha?
More importantly,
at least in this context,
it also triggered A lawsuit
by those four whistleblowers.
Over the past couple of years,
that lawsuit has been winding
its way through the court,
but earlier this year they
reached a tentative settlement
agreement of $3.2 million.
And officials have said,
and lawmakers who were on that
investigating committee have said
it was in fact Ken Paxton's request
that taxpayer dollars be used to
pay that 3 point million that
then led to their investigation.
And they're bringing forward those
twenty articles of impeachment
earlier this week.
So now that the House has voted to move
forward with this impeachment, what's next?
Well, that is a very interesting
and important question.
The logistics of what happens
next are still being worked out
at the Capitol even as we speak.
But under Texas law,
Ken Paxton is now suspended from office.
He is no longer able to act under the law.
As Texas Attorney General,
we expect that the governor in coming hours,
maybe in the next day or so.
Will name a temporary replacement.
But the matter, the impeachment matter,
the case itself now goes to the Senate.
The Senate must take this up.
They will have a trial of some
duration that is unclear and then
vote whether or not Ken Paxton is
convicted of these allegations.
If in fact he is convicted,
his removal,
his suspension from office then
becomes permanent Lieutenant.
Under Dan Patrick will preside over the
proceeding in the Senate but Darren Nisha,
he has said very little about
the timing of that when the
Senate could take up this matter.
Keep in mind the legislative session they
are in session right now ends on Monday.
So the open question as we sit here
this evening is whether or not they,
the Senate may take take up this
matter tomorrow or on Monday.