Paxton won’t testify at impeachment trial, attorney says

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton won’t testify at his Senate impeachment trial slated to begin Sept. 5, his attorney, Tony Buzbee, says.

“Ken Paxton is America’s most conservative and most successful Attorney General. He has won landmark cases in the Supreme Court to stop [President] Joe Biden’s lawlessness and willful disregard of our constitution. But his success in defending religious liberty, the right to life, the Second Amendment, and individual freedoms have made him a target of Democrats and the establishment Republicans who enable them. That is why Attorney General Paxton was impeached by the kangaroo court in the Texas House,” Buzbee said a statement.

“Attorney General Paxton will not dignify the illegal House action by testifying,” Buzbee said. “The House has ignored precedent, denied him an opportunity to prepare his defense, and now wants to ambush him on the floor of the Senate. They had the opportunity to have Attorney General Paxton testify during their sham investigation but refused to do so. We will not bow to their evil, illegal, and unprecedented weaponization of state power in the Senate chamber.”

House Speaker Dade Phelan, R-Beaumont, scheduled the vote to impeach Paxton on May 27, only 48 hours after members he selected to serve on the General Investigating Committee recommended the House impeach him. They voted after the GIC held a three-hour hearing at which they were presented no sworn witness testimony and prohibited Paxton or his staff from being questioned or providing any evidence.

They scheduled the hearing immediately after Paxton called on the GIC to investigate Phelan for appearing to be intoxicated while officially presiding over the House voting on how to spend billions of taxpayer money.

“The articles of impeachment are meritless and absurd and would have never been brought to the House floor or any Texas court in a credible proceeding,” Buzbee said, reiterating claims he’s previously made, saying the GIC’s report “would not qualify as evidence in any court of law in Texas, the United States, or anywhere else in the developed world.”

The impeachment was also politically motivated, he said, “a naked attack on Attorney General Paxton by the Texas House using a senior lawyer in the Obama Administration, Biden Justice Department lawyers and their allies in the Texas House.” He’s referring to the House Phelan hired with taxpayer dollars to secretly investigate Paxton. The parliamentarian previously worked for former President Barack Obama and Harris County Democratic attorneys. Their efforts were “about silencing conservatives, eliminating an effective political opponent, and overturning an election,” he said.

The members of the GIC, led by Rep. Andrew Murr, R-Junction, and attorneys prosecuting Paxton argue he is guilty of the charges and should be removed from office.

The way in which Murr and others sought to remove Paxton, Buzbee argues, denied him of his “basic constitutional rights. Under the Sixth Amendment, the accused has the right to confront witnesses and review the evidence and nature of any allegations against him. However, Speaker Phelan’s disciples, who he personally appointed to be House Impeachment Managers, have refused to turn over any evidence at all, even though it has always been provided to the respondent in every other Texas impeachment proceeding.”

Buzbee said Paxton won’t attend the Senate trial.

“Attorney General Paxton has successfully defended our constitutional rights against Joe Biden’s radical policies and his attack on individual liberty. He respects our constitutional heritage and has a record of defending it. No one should expect Attorney General Paxton now to surrender his own constitutional rights, allowing liberals to set a dangerous precedent that would encourage future kangaroo courts and sham proceedings such as the one brought by the Texas House,” Buzbee said.

He made the announcement after he sent cease and desist letters to Murr, other House members, and prosecuting attorneys telling them to stop “contacting potential witnesses, including employees of the Office of the Attorney General” in “an after-the-fact attempt to gather facts to support your sham investigation.”

Buzbee and others have also argued the House proceedings violated due process and basic rules of evidence. The Senate rules governing the trial require witnesses to appear in person and answer questions in a manner that doesn’t violate the Texas Rules of Evidence.

Rule 5 states that Paxton isn’t required to attend; he or his counsel “shall appear” in person before the court and if either fail to appear in-person, the trial would proceed as if a plea of not guilty were entered.