Dirtbag Texas AG Ken Paxton Slithers Out Of Accountability In Impeachment Trial, Surprise
Did anyone think it would really end up different?
Well, it happened. Republicans in the Texas state Senate saved corrupt, perpetually indicted attorney general Ken Paxton from the commie-ass Republicans in the Texas state House who had voted 121 to 23 to impeach him. (There must have been some loose woke mind virus in the chamber that day.) On Saturday, the state Senate didn’t get anywhere near the two-thirds majority needed to convict Paxton on any of the original 20 counts — only two Republicans joined Democrats on any of the articles, and the Senate dismissed four of them outright — so he’s free to go forth and crime, should he so choose.
Paxton’s wife Angela, a state senator, got to sit there and listen to all the stories about her husband’s affairs that were told during the trial, but was not allowed to vote. She was, however, counted for the purposes of determining whether an impeachment article got the required two-thirds — in essence, 21 senators out of 31 had to convict, instead of 20. It appears she was very happy her dirtbag husband was acquitted, though.
Paxton was immediately reinstated to his position.
Because the law just doesn’t apply to white MAGA Republicans. At least that’s what they’re trying to preserve down there in Texas.
“The sham impeachment coordinated by the Biden Administration with liberal House Speaker Dade Phelan and his kangaroo court has cost taxpayers millions of dollars, disrupted the work of the Office of Attorney General and left a dark and permanent stain on the Texas House,” Paxton said in a statement. “The weaponization of the impeachment process to settle political differences is not only wrong, it is immoral and corrupt.”
Uh yeah, okeydoke. Hate it when Joe Biden does political witch hunts with his best friends, the Republicans of the Texas state House.
Wonkette has covered much of the proceedings that led to this point, the twists and turns that got us here, the egregious corruption and in-your-face (alleged!) criming it took for even Texas Republicans to finally pay attention. (Hit those links for some refreshers on allllllll the things Paxton was charged with doing.) It really looked there for a minute like they might be through with him. But we guess not.
The dude has been under indictment for securities fraud since 2015, but has managed to keep a trial from happening so far. They ignored all that forever. Hell, they ignored all the corruption shit he was ultimately impeached for — constitutional bribery, disregard of official duty, false statements, conspiracy, and so much more! — until his own staffers revolted against him and started filing whistleblower complaints and filing lawsuits. It was when they settled out of court in February for $3.3 million that the Texas legislature started paying attention, since they would have had to appropriate that money.
And now the House and Senate are sniping at each other, because they hate each other, even though they are all Republicans and you’d expect them to be united in their shared goal of hurting Texans. Cranky ass white-haired Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presided over the trial, even opined that “our founders expected better” than this feeble attempt to hold a white Republican accountable.
That elicited strong pushback from House Speaker Dade Phelan. He didn’t just express disappointment that the attorney general wasn’t going to be held accountable for “corruption, deception and self-dealing.” He went much further, accusing Patrick of bias and contempt.
“The inescapable conclusion is that today’s outcome appears to have been orchestrated from the start, cheating the people of Texas of justice,” Phelan said.
Hmmmm! Innaresting. Because Texas Democrats are similarly saying what happened here was that the MAGA powers that be got to Texas Senate Republicans, and that’s what reporting in The Washington Post looks like too:
In recent days, Trump surrogates and allies had pressured Republican senators not to impeach Paxton, posting names and phone numbers of potential impeachment swing voters and urging Paxton supporters to phone their offices. The attorney general got a big shout-out Saturday afternoon when Trump congratulated him on X, formerly Twitter, praising “a great and historic Texas sized VICTORY.”
Nothing like little gentle threats and subtle intimidation to get Republicans back in line.
This is all just ugh, so we’ll give the last word to Democratic Texas state Rep. Ann Johnson:
[Johnson,] who served as vice chair of the House’s prosecution team, expressed concern that Ken Paxton will remain in office.
“We presented overwhelming evidence that Ken Paxton is the most corrupt politician in the state of Texas at this time. And Republicans in the Texas Senate just returned him to the office of the top cop,” Johnson said. “God help us.”
Did anybody really think he wouldn’t slither out of this one too?
[Texas Tribune / Washington Post]
Evan Hurst on Twitter right here.
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Well, this isn’t the straw that broke the camel’s back for me-I had already decided to go to California. This just confirms that I made the right decision to get the hell out of this cartoonishly corrupt Fascist petrostate.
Antibiotics and pro-biotics from the vet are working. Doggo has started eating again and enthusiastically wanting food.