Republican Texas AG Ken Paxton is acquitted of corruption charges at historic impeachment trial

1 of 29 |

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been acquitted of all 16 articles of impeachment accusing him of misconduct, bribery and corruption. The verdict reaffirmed Paxton’s durability in America’s biggest red state. (Sept. 16)

2 of 29 |

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, center, sits between defense attorneys Tony Buzbee, left, and Mitch Little, right, before his impeachment trial resumes in the Senate Chamber at the Texas Capitol on Friday, Sept. 15, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (Sam Owens/The San Antonio Express-News via AP, Pool)

3 of 29 |

Texas state senators acting as jurors vote on the articles of impeachment against suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the Senate Chamber at the Texas Capitol, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

4 of 29 |

5 of 29 |

6 of 29 |

7 of 29 |

Votes are collected by Texas state senators acting as a jurors in the impeachment trial against suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the Senate Chamber at the Texas Capitol, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

8 of 29 |

State Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, wife of suspended Texas state Attorney General Ken Paxton, keeps track of voting in his impeachment trial at the Texas Capitol, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

9 of 29 |

Texas state Sen. Lois Kolkhorst, right, acting as a juror votes on the articles of impeachment against suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the Senate Chamber at the Texas Capitol, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

10 of 29 |

Texas state Sen. Judith Zaffirini, right, acting as a juror votes on the articles of impeachment against suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the Senate Chamber at the Texas Capitol, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

11 of 29 |

Texas state Sen. Brian Birdwell acting as a juror votes on the articles of impeachment against suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the Senate Chamber at the Texas Capitol, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

12 of 29 |

13 of 29 |

Texas state Rep. Andrew Murr, the Republican chair of the House committee that investigated suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, walks through the Senate Chamber during the impeachment trial for Paxton at the Texas Capitol, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

14 of 29 |

Ticketed members of the public an the media wait for the verdict in the impeachment trial for suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton at the Texas Capitol, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

15 of 29 |

Texas state Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, wife of suspended Texas state Attorney General Ken Paxton, walks through the Senate Chamber during the impeachment trial for her husband at the Texas Capitol, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

16 of 29 |

Whistleblowers David Maxwell, former director of law enforcement for the Texas Attorney General’s office, front left, and Blake Brickman, former deputy attorney general, back left, wait for the verdict in the impeachment trial for suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the Senate Chamber at the Texas Capitol, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

17 of 29 |

18 of 29 |

Defense attorneys Tony Buzbee, front, Mitch Little, left, and Dan Cogdell, right, wait for Texas state Senators acting as jurors to return to the Senate chamber for their verdict in the impeachment trial for suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton at the Texas Capitol, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

19 of 29 |

Defense attorneys Mitch Little, left, Tony Buzbee, center, and Dan Cogdell, right, wait for Texas state Senators acting as jurors to return to the Senate chamber for their verdict in the impeachment trial for suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton at the Texas Capitol, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

20 of 29 |

Whistleblowers David Maxwell, former director of law enforcement for the Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, right, talks with Secretary of the Senate Patsy Spaw as state senators acting as jurors vote in the impeachment trial for suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the Senate Chamber at the Texas Capitol, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

21 of 29 |

Texas state Sen. John Whitmire, D-Houston, votes on a article of impeachment in Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s trial in the Senate Chamber at the Texas Capitol, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

22 of 29 |

Whistleblowers David Maxwell, former director of law enforcement for the Texas Attorney General’s office, front left, and Margaret Moore former Travis County district attorney, front right, with other trial witnesses watch as state senators acting as jurors vote in the impeachment trial for suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the Senate Chamber at the Texas Capitol, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, in Austin, Texas. Paxton has been acquitted of all charges at his impeachment trial. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

23 of 29 |

Defense attorney Tony Buzbee talks to the media after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was acquitted in his impeachment at the Texas Capitol, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

24 of 29 |

Defense attorney Tony Buzbee, attorney Dan Cogdell, and their team talk to the media after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was acquitted in his impeachment at the Texas Capitol, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

25 of 29 |

State Sen. Angela Paxton, R-McKinney, wife of suspended Texas state Attorney General Ken Paxton, left, embraces defense attorney Tony Buzbee, right, as they celebrate the acquittal of her husband in his impeachment trial in the Senate Chamber at the Texas Capitol, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

26 of 29 |

Defense attorney Tony Buzbee, left, watches as votes are collected during the impeachment trial for suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton in the Senate Chamber at the Texas Capitol, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, in Austin, Texas. Paxton has been acquitted of all charges at his impeachment trial. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

27 of 29 |

Defense attorney Tony Buzbee, center, with attorney Dan Cogdell, right, talks to the media after Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was acquitted in his impeachment at the Texas Capitol, Saturday, Sept. 16, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

28 of 29 |

29 of 29 |

By PAUL J. WEBER and JUAN A. LOZANO

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) — Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was fully acquitted Saturday of corruption charges in a historic impeachment trial, a resounding verdict that reaffirms the power of the GOP’s hard right and puts an indicted incumbent who remains under FBI investigation back into office.

The outcome demonstrated Paxton’s lasting durability in America’s biggest red state after years of criminal charges and scandal. And more broadly, it delivered a signature victory for the Texas GOP’s ascendent conservative wing, following an impeachment that gave a rare window into divisions among Republicans nationally heading into 2024.

The Latest Movie Reviews

Movie Review: ‘Harold and the Purple Crayon’ brings beloved book to life in a familiar story

★★★★

Movie Review: ‘Cuckoo’ is a stylish nightmare, with a wonderfully sinister Dan Stevens

★★★★

Review: In ‘The Instigators,’ a heist goes terrifically wrong

★★★★

Movie Review: A third-act friendship comedy in ‘The Fabulous Four’

★★★★

“Today, the truth prevailed. The truth could not be buried by mudslinging politicians or their powerful benefactors,” Paxton said in a statement. He only attended a few hours of the two-week trial and was not there for the verdict.

The trial was a showcase of both sober testimony and occasional spectacle. In accusing Paxton of abusing his office, former advisers recounted how Texas’ top lawyer allegedly pressured them to help a political donor who was under FBI investigation. The testimony included arguments over who paid for home renovations, whether Paxton used burner phones and how his alleged extramarital affair became a strain on the office.

Paxton denied wrongdoing and his attorneys argued there was either no evidence or that there wasn’t enough to rise beyond a reasonable doubt. They portrayed Paxton as the victim of a plot orchestrated by Republican rivals and waved to political conspiracies involving George P. Bush, the nephew of former President George W. Bush, who unsuccessfully challenged Paxton in last year’s GOP primary.

Paxton was endorsed in that race by former President Donald Trump, who reaffirmed his support in the waning days of the trial and applauded the verdict. “The Ken Paxton Victory is sooo BIG. WOW!!!” Trump posted on Truth Social, his social media platform.

More than three months after an overwhelming impeachment in the Texas House — where Republicans have a solid majority — Paxton was just as convincingly acquitted by Senate Republicans who serve alongside his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton.

Angela Paxton was not allowed a vote in the trial. But she attended all two weeks of the proceedings, including one dramatic moment when a woman was called to publicly testify about an affair she had with the state senator’s husband. The woman ultimately never took the witness stand, but her relationship with Ken Paxton was central to a case that accused him of going to potentially criminal lengths to help a local real estate developer named Nate Paul, who was under FBI investigation at the time.

The voting to acquit Paxton one-by-one on 16 charges of misconduct, bribery and corruption took more than an hour. Needing at least nine GOP senators to cross party lines, impeachment managers never got more than two on any one charge.

Onlookers in the Senate gallery for the verdict included three of Paxton’s former deputies who reported him to the FBI in 2020 and testified in the trial. As the acquittals stacked up, one of them left midway through the verdict.

When the voting finally finished, Angela Paxton walked over to the defense table and hugged her husband’s lawyers.

Democratic state Sen. Nathan Johnson described nearly eight hours of deliberations among the 30 senators as a hard and seemingly sincere process. “And then it collapsed,” he said.

Johnson said it eventually became clear there would not be enough votes to convict and that it may have led some senators to change their minds.

“When enough people fall away from conviction, it exposes any remaining Republican to very strong attack from the right,” Johnson said. “We reached the wrong result and it was the result of political pressures.”

Another Democrat, Sen. Royce West, said the deliberations were not combative. “It was fluid,” he said.

The outcome far from ends Paxton’s troubles. He still faces trial on felony securities fraud charges, remains under a separate FBI investigation and is in jeopardy of losing his ability to practice law in Texas because of his baseless attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

Eight of Paxton’s former deputies reported him to the FBI in 2020 over his relationship with real estate developer Paul, setting off a federal investigation that remains ongoing. Federal prosecutors investigating Paxton took testimony in August before a grand jury in San Antonio, according to two people with knowledge of the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity because of secrecy rules around the proceeding.

Paul was indicted in June on charges of making false statements to banks. He has pleaded not guilty. Testimony in the trial included a former Texas Ranger, who said he warned Paxton he was risking indictment in trying to help Paul pursue claims of wrongdoing by federal agents and a judge.

But reelected twice, including last November, Paxton has remained politically resilient despite the legal troubles and dysfunction in his office.

After starting his career in the state legislature as a Tea Party insurgent, Paxton has elevated his national profile by rushing his office into polarizing courtroom battles across the U.S., winning acclaim from Trump and the GOP’s hard right.

Shortly after the verdict, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott welcomed Paxton back to work without reservations.

“Attorney General Paxton has done an outstanding job representing Texas, especially pushing back against the Biden Administration,” Abbott said. “I look forward to continuing to work with him to secure the border and protect Texas from federal overreach.”

___

Associated Press writer Jake Bleiberg in Glen Ridge, New Jersey, contributed to this report.

___

Find AP’s full coverage of the impeachment of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton at: https://apnews.com/hub/ken-paxton