This Week in Texas Politics: Paxton impeachment trial, border scandal

AUSTIN, Texas - This Week in Texas Politics featured court fights, a border scandal and impeachment trial political maneuvering. FOX 7 Austin's Rudy Koski joined our panel of political analysts to discuss.

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RUDY KOSKI: A lot of the top stories This Week in Texas Politics went from legislate to litigate. Let's get the Headlines from our panel. And we'll start first with Patrick Svitek with the Texas Tribune. Patrick, what's your headline for the week? 

PARTICK SVITEK: "Yeah, on that topic, my headline has to be, "The Final Countdown to the Ken Paxton Impeachment Trial."" 

RUDY KOSKI: Brian Smith with Saint Edward's University. Your Headline. 

BRIAN SMITH: "Taylor Swift or Ken Paxton's trial, which will be 2023's hottest ticket." 

RUDY KOSKI: Mark Wiggins, your headline for the week. What is it? 

MARK WIGGINS: "The completely fine Texas electric grid teeters on the edge of collapse."

WEEK RECAP: 

RUDY KOSKI: With the Ken Paxton trial just a few days away, it's no surprise that a lot of the big stories involve several new state laws set to take effect Friday, we're not being debated underneath the Capitol dome, but we're being argued in a courtroom. There were fights involving kids and gender modification. Rating and reviewing school library books, as well as arguments over what's called the Death Star Law and how far does home rule actually go now.

DEATH STAR LEGAL FIGHT:

RUDY KOSKI: Brian, in regard to that Home Rule fight? It seems like local officials want to try to carve out some city-state powers for themselves. But is this more about state government overreaching? 

BRIAN SMITH: That's a little of both. Home rule works great when everyone's on the same page. The state government doesn't want to micromanage cities. 

PARTICK SVITEK: This so-called Death Star Bill is appropriately named, I think, in that it is the most sweeping attempt to prevent those moves going forward by local governments.

MARK WIGGINS: Yeah, you know, Rudy, a lot of the culture war stuff is wrapped up in legitimate questions around the First Amendment. So it's not surprising to see any of that going to litigation. But I think it's going to be less of a surprise is what's going to happen when it gets to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in New Orleans. 

BORDER BATTLES:

RUDY KOSKI: The Texas Tribune and the Army Times broke a story this week about the Texas Guard allegedly overstepping rules by spying on migrants on a social media platform and mishandling some very important classified information. At the same time, New York City and other liberal led city locations are calling for the Biden administration to help them address the migrant surge in their areas. Patrick. Both stories, I think, bring a lot of political fallout and a lot of political pressure. You agree? 

PARTICK SVITEK: Yeah, I agree. You know, it's the latest, the story that you mention from the Tribune is obviously the latest, you know, effort to shine light, I think, on just how large and at times it seems unaccountable the Abbott border security mission has gotten. 

BRIAN SMITH: Yeah, but I don't see this issue actually going anywhere. This is an issue that's going to be lasting all the way to Election Day with no resolution. It's easy for Abbott to back off on a policy and much harder for the Biden administration to go and try to pass something meaningful. 

PAXTON TRIAL PRESSURES:

RUDY KOSKI: Supporters of Attorney General Ken Paxton have ramped up their media blitz, targeting state senators who are going to act as jurors in the upcoming trial. I think that that strategy is going to backfire when it comes to the trial and start making these senators really upset. What's what's the read you're getting on that Mark? 

MARK WIGGINS: The astroturfing by a handful of shady donors who they already do not like is probably just annoying them more than anything else. 

PARTICK SVITEK: I don't know if the pressure is going to work, but I do find it interesting. Republican senators who often aren't the subject of these kind of attacks from their right and have been insulated from them do find themselves now in this new position. 

MARK WIGGINS: If I could just go ahead. What Patrick just said. There are just so many layers to this. There is the external optics of how it's going to look when all of this evidence comes to light. There are internal divisions within the Republican Party. There are the interpersonal politics between the individual senators and the attorney general. And then there are questions about ambition and advancement within the government structure. So there are just so many different threads. 

RUDY KOSKI: We heard earlier in the week that Senator Brian Hughes may have been used to help push out one of those questionable attorney general opinions for Nate Paul. Do you expect any other surprises to come out on day one? 

BRIAN SMITH: Well, we don't know what's going to happen on day one because this is such a unique new thing. 

MARK WIGGINS: Yeah, this is the show of the century. And, you know, at any moment, as we've seen in just the last couple of weeks, at any moment, some new explosive revelation could come to light. 

PARTICK SVITEK: There's such a wide range of scenarios, as Mark pointed out, even between just now, we're recording this Friday morning and when the trial starts on Tuesday. I mean, Ken Paxton could be indicted by the feds between now and Tuesday. It's going to be the show of the century. 

FINAL WORD:

RUDY KOSKI: Let's wrap up This Week in Texas Politics with the final word, and we'll start off with, I'm scared to ask. Brian, what's your final word? 

BRIAN SMITH: Tuesday. 

RUDY KOSKI: Patrick, what's your word? 

PARTICK SVITEK: Witness. Because I can't wait to see all these witnesses show up for this trial. 

RUDY KOSKI: And Mark, what's your word for the week. 

MARK WIGGINS: Conservation Appeal. 

RUDY KOSKI: And that sums up another Week in Texas Politics.