Cronkite school of journalism at
Arizona state university.
Geoff: Bribery, dereliction of
duty, obstruction of justice.
Those are just some of the
allegations against Republican
Texas attorney general Ken
paxton after a months-long
investigation led by members of
his own party.
It's one of several stories
around the country that Ali
rogin is following.
Ali: Geoff, Republican Ken
paxton has faced years of
scandal, but now, he faces 20
articles of impeachment in the
final days of the legislative
session.
The bipartisan members of the
house committee leading the
investigation voted unanimously
to recommend the impeachment
charges late yesterday.
>> The chair moves that the
committee adopt the articles of
impeachment against Warren
Kenneth paxton, attorney
general.
Ali: Paxton has denied any
wrongdoing and accused the
committee of relying on hearsay
and gossip and using "Their
unsubstantiated report to
overturn the results of a free
and fair election."
Sergio martanez-beltran is a
politics and government reporter
for NPR's the Texas newsroom and
joins me now.
Thank you so much.
Remind us, what is attorney
general paxton accused of doing?
Sergio: The list is very long.
This house investigative panel
came out with a report, and they
also drafted 20 articles of
impeachment.
Those articles include
constitutional bribery, abuse of
official capacity, misuse of
official information, and
retaliation against former
employees who reported him in
2020 to the FBI because of
alleged misdeeds related to an
Austin real estate investor who
was being investigated by the
FBI.
Ali: These allegations have
followed him for years.
You mentioned the FBI has been
investigating him.
Why is this Republican led
legislature moving now to seek
impeachment?
Sergio: That is a great
question.
The Republican legislature has
stood by paxton all these years,
but it is now we are seeing some
Republicans starting to push
back and question paxton's
ability to serve the state.
I think the timing here is
clear.
The allegations that paxton
fired former employees
and ended up in a lawsuit.
There's a settlement agreement.
$3.3 million agreement that the
legislature is responsible to
fund.
Republican lawmakers do not want
to pay for that money.
They say it is too much.
They say the taxpayers will be
paying for paxton's alleged
wrongdoings and that is not
fair.
That is where we are.
The house investigative
committee decided to hire four
investigators to look into the
settlement and the evidence.
They decided it was all paxton's
wrongdoings and may be
legislature should not pay for
it.
Ali: Paxton's defenders say
this settlement is just a
smokescreen and there's
something else going on.
What is your reporting indicate?
Sergio: I think the timing here
is great.
We know that the house speaker
does not have the best
relationship with Ken paxton,
and a lot of grassroots
Republicans in the state are
truly upset at the house speaker
because they say he has not
supported the priorities of the
Republican party.
Paxton a few days ago, before
the house committee came out
with this notice of impeachment,
had accused the house speaker of
being drunk on the house floor
without any proof.
Just a video that was heavily
edited.
I think this is where we are.
Paxton seems to have come out
against Phelan ahead of what he
knew was going to be a report
that was not going to be
favorable to him.
Ali: For those of us who have
not been following Texas
politics as closely, how big of
a deal is this?
Sergio: This is big.
This is a big deal.
Only two public officials in
Texas have been impeached.
The last one was in the 1970's.
This is huge.
Ken paxton is beloved by
Republican lawmakers in the
state of Texas, but also on the
national level.
He has been fighting with the
Biden and Obama administrations
over federal spending, abortion
medication, trying to overturn
the results of the presidential
election.
He's a big figure within the
Republican party.
We know if the house were to
impeach tomorrow, automatically,
can paxton would be suspended
from his duties pending a senate
trial and decision from that
chamber.
Ali: The houses excited to vote
on this impeachment tomorrow.
What did you expect the outcome
to be?
Sergio: The interesting thing is
the house only needs a simple
majority to impeach or move to
impeach paxton.
We know there is over 60
Democrats.
We also know there are
Republicans who have already
said they are going to impeach
paxton.
From what I am hearing, it seems
like the house committee is
asking the full house to
impeach, they have the votes to
move forward with this historic
decision.
Ali: Fascinating stuff.
Sergio with NPR's the Texas