Texas House to vote on AG Ken Paxton impeachment

AUSTIN, Texas - The Texas House of Representatives will vote Saturday on whether to impeach Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, an investigating panel announced Friday.

The House will consider a resolution calling for Paxton's impeachment at 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 27, according to a statement released by the House Committee on General Investigating.

If impeached, Paxton would be forced to leave his office immediately.

This comes after the Republican-led bipartisan committee filed 20 articles of impeachment against the attorney general. The articles cite alleged bribery, unfitness for office and abuse of public trust, among other charges.

Paxton spoke out Friday afternoon ahead of Saturday's House vote on his impeachment.

He called the situation politically motivated, and if the House does vote for impeachment, he hopes for a quick resolution in the Senate.

"The political theater must come to an end," he said. "By proceeding with this illegal impeachment scheme to overturn a decision made by Texas voters just a few short months ago, the corrupt politicians in the Texas House are demonstrating that blind loyalty to Speaker Dade Phelan is more important than upholding their oath of office. They are determined to ignore the law."

He and his chief of general litigation Chris Hilton claim the House Committee on General Investigating didn't let them present evidence.

"If they cared about truth or about fairness or about transparency, they would have run a transparent investigation and invited us to participate," Hilton said. "Instead, they threw us out of the committee hearing yesterday when we showed up with documents and reports that would disprove these spurious allegations."

Hilton argues the articles of impeachment are meritless.

"The claims that have been made by the General Investigating Committee have been thoroughly researched and debunked time and time again," he said.

"Every politician who supports this deceitful impeachment attempt will inflict lasting damage on the credibility of the Texas House," Paxton said.

Paxton says it's been business as usual in his office this week, talking about the lawsuits he's brought against the Biden administration.

"The House is poised to do exactly what Joe Biden has been hoping to accomplish since his first day in office, sabotage our work, my work as Attorney General of Texas," he said.

"The members should be insulted that they're going to be asked to take a vote on this tomorrow. And make no mistake, this is an undemocratic and morally reprehensible attempt to overturn the will of millions of Texas voters," Hilton said.

Paxton also called on his supporters to go to the Capitol Saturday and let their voices be heard.

Paxton did not respond to questions from journalists at the conference.

Republicans and conservatives both in Texas, and nationally, have rallied support for Paxton since the articles of impeachment were filed.

Texas GOP Chairman Matt Rinaldi released a statement on the party's Twitter account calling out the "sham impeachment" as "the latest front in the Texas House's war against Republicans to stop the conservative direction of our state."

Kyle Rittenhouse, who in 2021 was found not guilty of murdering two men during civil unrest in Kenosha, Wisconsin in 2020, tweeted his support for Paxton, calling out Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan for "attacking our pro-gun attorney general."

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It's unclear how many supporters Paxton has in the House. Since the prospect of impeachment emerged, few top Republicans at the Capitol have backed Paxton.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.