TRIALS:...Republican A.G. Paxton Loses Round One...

 

By EDUARDO PAZ-MARTINEZ

McALLEN, Texas | It started this morning with a loss for embattled Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. He's being impeached, as pretty much all of you know. At least, you should know. The 60-year-old Paxton has not been a good boy.

His Republican pals in the Texas Legislature want him gone.

Today was Day One of his trial in the Texas Senate.

This from dailybeast.com: [ Paxton was dealt a major blow on the first day of his impeachment trial, with the state’s Republican-majority Senate refusing to throw out any of the 20 articles of impeachment brought against him.

Paxton filed a pretrial motion to have his charges thrown out before proceedings began, requiring senators to hold a vote today. Those votes gave the first indication of where senators stood ahead of trial, and the results didn’t bode well for Paxton, who’s accused of using his office to call in special favors for a big-bucks donor.

The most support a motion received was 10 out of 30 state senators - well short of the required majority vote needed, despite 19 senators being Republicans like Paxton.

The votes mean Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial will continue as scheduled. House impeachment managers, who gave their opening statements today, are trying to convince at least 21 senators that Paxton should be removed from office. ]

Present at the public whipping was Paxton's wife, Angela, a state senator, herself. She, however, was just another curious onlooker as she has been barred from voting on her husband's fate.

No comment came on the day's proceedings from Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott.

His deafening silence on the matter has been read as indicating no support for Paxton...

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