In the eight years since he was indicted on charges of securities fraud, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has overcome a mountain of legal troubles and accusations of wrongdoing while becoming a Republican official entrenched in the party’s culture wars who has the support of former president Donald Trump.
But after Paxton called on Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan (R) to resign this week over alleged drunkenness — after what a TV station said was “the end of a 14-hour day” at the House — the Republican-led General Investigating Committee notified Paxton that it had been investigating him for months, and it unanimously recommended that the attorney general be impeached and removed from office. Alleged bribery, obstruction of justice and abuse of public trust were among the items of alleged behavior cited by Texas Republicans in the articles of impeachment that lawmakers presented Saturday.
