Texas Republican-led Panel files 20 articles of impeachment against state attorney general

In an impeachment that could become a first in decades in Texas history, a Republican-led committee of the state's House of Representatives recommended Thursday to impeach the state’s attorney general, Ken Paxton alleging that his conduct included a slew of abuses of his office.

As per the investigators on the committee, Paxton's actions are believed to be accounted for crimes.This comes as Texas is holding its 88th Legislature's regular session which kicked off on 10 January and will go on through 29 May.

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Since 2015, Paxton has been under a criminal indictment. He would have to temporarily step down from his position while he is tried in the State Senate. “There’s really no precedent — we’ve really only had two impeachments under the Constitution of 1876,” said a professor of political science at Rice University Mark P. Jones, reported New York Times.

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“Overturning elections begins behind closed doors,” Paxton tweeted earlier while sharing a video of his office lawyer who was seen arguing against his impeachment in conversation with media personnel at a committee room. It came when the committee was holding its deliberations over the impeachment.

Past impeachments

The impeachment, if goes forward, will be one of the few others that were conducted in the state’s history decades ago. They include the 1917 governor, who resigned the day before the Senate found him guilty, and the 1970s district judge who was found guilty and expelled. The committee convened in a private executive session before going for the vote.

The committee filed 20 articles of impeachment against Paxton following the vote, accusing him of a long list of abuses including accepting bribes, failing to perform his official duties, obstructing justice in a separate securities fraud case that is pending against him, lying on official documents and reports, and abusing the public trust.

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The committee claimed that many of the accusations pertained to the different ways Paxton had allegedly exploited his authority to promote a specific donor and subsequently fired people in the office who objected to his behaviour. The chairman of the committee and a Republican Andrew Murr termed the abuses “grave offenses” and said that he is intending to bring the accusations against him up for a vote by the House.

The extraordinary developments were likely to test the Republican Party in Texas in new and unpredictable ways, at a time when divisions in the party have increasingly been exposed.

The development also comes at a time when divides inside Republican Party are becoming more apparent in Texas. Speaker Dade Phelan, a Republican representing Beaumont who is regarded as a conservative is in charge of the Texas House. In contrast, Paxton has sided with Texas' most adamant Republican lawmakers as well as former President Donald Trump.

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