'It's an Illegal Impeachment' – Attorney General Ken Paxton Goes Off on Texas RINO Movement Behind Coordinated Effort to Remove Him from Office – VOTE IS TODAY (VIDEO) https://t.co/eMppigingk#gatewaypundit via @gatewaypundit
Many of the articles of impeachment focused on allegations that Paxton had repeatedly abused his powers of office to help a political donor and friend, Austin real estate developer Nate Paul.
In fall 2020, eight top deputies in the attorney general’s office approached federal and state investigators to report their concerns about Paxton’s relationship with Paul.
All eight quit or were fired in the following months, and most of the details of their allegations against Paxton were revealed in a lawsuit by four former executives who claim they were fired — in violation of the Texas Whistleblower Act — in retaliation for reporting Paxton to the authorities. Paxton’s bid to dismiss the lawsuit is awaiting action by the Dallas-based 5th Court of Appeals.
According to the lawsuit, the whistleblowers accused Paxton of engaging in a series of “intense and bizarre” actions to help Paul, including intervening in an open-records case to help Paul gain documents from federal and state investigations into the real estate investor’s businesses. They also accused Paxton of directing his agency to intervene in a lawsuit between Paul and a charity, pushing through a rushed legal opinion to help Paul avoid a pending foreclosure sale on properties and ignoring agency rules to hire an outside lawyer to pursue an investigation helpful to Paul’s businesses.
In return, the whistleblower lawsuit alleged, Paul paid for all or part of a major renovation of a home Paxton owns in Austin. Paul also helped Paxton keep an extramarital affair quiet by employing the woman Paxton had been seeing, the lawsuit said, adding that the attorney general may also have been motivated by a $25,000 contribution Paul made to Paxton’s campaign in 2018.
In their report to the House General Investigating Committee on Wednesday, the panel’s investigators concluded that Paxton may have committed numerous crimes and violated his oath of office.
Investigators said possible felonies included abuse of official capacity by, among other actions, diverting staff time to help Paul at a labor cost of at least $72,000; misuse of official information by possibly helping Paul gain access to investigative documents; and retaliation and official oppression by firing employees who complained of Paxton’s actions to the FBI.
美国德克萨斯州(Texas)众议院27日以121赞成票、23反对票,通过弹劾被指滥权的共和党籍德州总检察长派克斯顿(Ken Paxton)。据路透社报导,派克斯顿涉嫌不当协助一名有钱政治捐款人,向一名被他辞退的告密者作虚假调查,并在另一宗联邦证券诈骗案中掩饰犯错等罪状。
派克斯顿否认指控,称弹劾自己只会为民主党的美国总统拜登“送礼”,惟德州的一般事务调查委员会(General Investigating Committee)5名成员听取调查人员的证供后,一致支持将个案交由州众议院表决的建议。
而在众议院表决前夕,多名共和党人支持弹劾派克斯顿,指对方多次违反法律、规定、政策和程序。不过也有共和党人指出,他们并不是为派克斯顿辩护,只是认为没有足够证据。
派克斯顿被州众议院弹劾后,在参议院表决前需要停职,并要获三分之二参议员支持才可正式将对方赶下台,而他的妻子亦是当地参议员。
派克斯顿立场极右,曾经就移民、枪械权、企业监管等议题控诉,与拜登政府打官司近50次,又形容对方的政策是“不合法的极权措施”。他同时是有意在2024年大选卷土重来的美前总统川普盟友之一,后者在自己的社交平台留言,要求放过对方。