Republican Not Off the Hook Yet After Impeachment Acquittal - Biden's DOJ Will Make Sure of It
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is not yet off the hook.
The 60-year-old Republican is back on the job, being acquitted by the state Senate last week after a more than three-month suspension as a result of being impeached by the state house on charges of bribery and abuse of power.
The Senate failed to gain even a simple majority for conviction, much less the required supermajority of 21 of 30 votes.
There’s expectation Paxton’s next problem will be the U.S. Department of Justice and the FBI presenting him with a federal indictment. “I think they will,” responded Texas conservative activist Luke Macias to a query by Steve Bannon on “The Liberty Daily.”
“I think they absolutely intend to do so,” Macias said. “I think we will likely see that happen.
“I will be surprised if the feds don’t take action against Ken Paxton and try to indict him with a federal grand jury before the end of the year.”
Feds are interested in claims by whistle-blowers who said Paxton and Nate Paul, a donor, provided inappropriate aid to each other.
Bannon traced bad blood between Paxton and the Biden administration to Paxton’s filing of a U.S. Supreme Court lawsuit on behalf of Texas which challenged 2020 election results.
The suit –– Texas v. Pennsylvania — claimed Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania made improper election law changes in 2020 but the Supreme Court jettisoned the case, ruling Texas did not have standing.
And the saga continues. “The FBI and the U.S. attorney would be derelict in their duty” if they were not focusing on accusations against Paxton, according to former U.S. attorney Paul Coggins, now a defense attorney in areas of white-collar crime.
Whistleblowers who contacted the FBI in 2020 regarding Paxton appeared as witnesses in his impeachment trial, giving federal officials an opportunity to observe and to develop strategies against Paxton, Coggins said, as reported by KXAS-TV.
“It’s really free discovery for the government,” according to Coggins.
“The government can sit back and watch who takes the stand, how they do on the stand, how they hold up to cross-examination. Wouldn’t put it beyond the realm of possibility that the FBI has learned some things from this,” he said.
Given their ability to subpoena across the country and offer immunity deals to witnesses, federal officials have more power than the Texas legislature, Coggins said.
For his part, Paxton has gone on the offensive. “I can promise the Biden administration the following: buckle up because your lawless policies will not go unchallenged,” he wrote Saturday in a public letter.
“We will not allow you to shred the constitution and infringe on the rights of Texans. You will be held accountable,” according to Paxton.
He blasted the “sham impeachment coordinated by the Biden Administration with liberal House Speaker Dade Phelan and his kangaroo court” which, Paxton said, “has cost taxpayers millions of dollars, disrupted the work of the Office of Attorney General and left a dark and permanent stain on the Texas House.”
Paxton has had legal problems since he replaced current Texas Governor Gregg Abbott as attorney general in 2015.
That year, Paxton was embroiled in a securities fraud case. It’s dragged on since then, but there’s a court session next month to set a date for trial.
Paxton’s lawyer, Dan Cogdell, expects quick dismissal, The New York Times reported.
Paxton also may be able to run out the clock in federal investigations, since they are time-consuming and a future Republican administration may not be enthused about continuing them.
Despite legal problems, Paxton — an ally of former President Donald Trump — has been re-elected twice.
Paxton’s Trump connection — including the Texas v. Pennsylvania lawsuit — may be the real foundation for the legal moves against him.
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