AUSTIN, Texas (CN) — After a prolonged debate, the Republican-led Texas Senate adopted the rules that will govern the impeachment trial of suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton Wednesday evening.
The Senate began its deliberations on the rules behind closed doors starting mid-day Tuesday. After recessing several times to give the senators more time, a final agreement was reached late Wednesday.
Senator Brian Birdwell, a Republican from Granbury, led a bipartisan committee comprised of members with and without legal experience to craft the rules. Before the body adopted the rules, Birdwell thanked his fellow lawmakers for the over 30 hours of consideration they have participated in.
“[It is a] challenging situation to try to lead that discussion and move to a document that the overwhelming majority of the members can support, and many of whom are on the floor now have already signed the resolution as joint authors,” said Birdwell. “And so I greatly appreciate that and the rigor of the conversations that we've had…”
The 29-page resolution outlining the rules sets guidelines on the time allotted to each side to make their case. Each side will be given an hour for opening arguments, 24 hours to present evidence, an hour to provide a rebuttal to the evidence presented and an hour to give final arguments. If Paxton is convicted, each side will have 15 minutes to argue whether he should be disqualified from holding future office.
To secure a conviction, the senators must sustain any one of the 20 articles of impeachment by a vote of two-thirds. Unlike in the House, the body will vote on the articles individually. If convicted, Paxton will be permanently removed from office.
As for access to the trial, the adopted rules call for members of the public and the news media to be provided space in the Senate gallery to view the proceedings.
A question finally answered by the rules is what role state Senator Angela Paxton, Paxton’s wife, will be during the trial. According to the rules, she has been deemed to have a conflict of interest under the state Constitution and will therefore not be allowed to take part in any votes, deliberations or asking of questions.
However, Senator Paxton will be required to be present for the trial “only for the purpose of calculating the number of votes required for any and all matters, motions, and questions under [the] rules.”
Senator Paxton was one of three members that voted against adopting the rules.
In addition to adopting the rules of the trial, the Senate also set Tuesday, Sept. 5, as the start day of the trial. In a separate resolution to the rules, the Senate ordered Paxotn to appear before them.
On May 27, Ken Paxton was impeached by the Texas House in a vote of 121-23 for allegedly abusing his office to help a campaign donor, Austin real estate investor Nate Paul, with an FBI investigation into him. Among the charges of abuse of office, Paxton is also alleged to have accepted bribes from Paul, including home renovations and a job for a woman whom Paxton was having an extramarital affair with.
Earlier this month, Paul was arrested by the FBI and placed in a Travis County jail overnight. He stands accused of lying to financial institutions to secure loans. Prosecutors want Paul to pay $172 million in restitution, while each of the eight counts against him carries a maximum of 30 years behind bars.
Standing with the embattled AG, the Republican Party of Texas on Tuesday, adopted a resolution condemning the House investigation and impeachment proceeding, calling them politically motivated. The resolution criticized the process in which witnesses testified before the House General Investigating Committee and accused them of failing to provide due process to the accused.
“Neither the [committee] nor the House of Representatives allowed Attorney General Paxton the opportunity to present evidence in his defense or to cross-examine witnesses, which is contrary to the spirit of the U.S. Constitution… and to the precedent established by the Texas House of Representatives…,” the resolution read.
Texas GOP chairman Matt Rinaldi has been an ardent supporter of Paxton since the impeachment process began in late May. Rinaldi, in a statement reacting to the House’s vote to impeach Paxton, said that the process has been “indefensible” and “based solely on accusations, hearsay, rumor, innuendo and speculation.”
In addition to Rinaldi, Paxton has received words of support from fellow Republicans including Texas Senator Ted Cruz and former President Donald Trump.
A poll, released Tuesday by the Texas Politics Project, revealed that while top names in the Republican Party are standing by Paxton, Texans are not as loyal to the state’s three-term elected top cop.
According to the poll, 50% of Texans believe that the Texas House was justified in impeaching Paxton, with 17% believing that it was not justified. Thirty-three percent of respondents did not know or had no opinion on the matter.
Republicans appear to be split on whether the House was justified. Thirty-one percent believe that chamber was while 30% believe it was not and 39% said they did not know or had no opinion.
Paxton is the first attorney general in Texas History to be impeached by the House. Only two other elected officials have been impeached: Governor James Ferguson in 1917 and Duval County District Judge O.P. Carrillo in 1975.
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