Impeach Paxton Again? Not Likely, but the Texas AG’s Latest Move Isn’t Helping His Cause

When Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton reached a settlement with whistleblowers in February 2023 he unwittingly initiated a House investigation into accusations of corruption and bribery. The House impeached him, but in September, the Senate, for the most part, voted along party lines to reinstate him to the position to which he’s been elected three times.

Now, more recent legal move by the Lone Star State’s top lawyer might’ve just tickled the tripwire for yet another round of impeachment discussions, if one GOP senator has his way.

On Jan. 18 Paxton announced his office would no longer contest the whistleblower lawsuit and requested a final judgment. The McKinney resident used the occasion to present himself as a Texas-defending martyr of sorts.

“Now, in the best interests of the State of Texas, the Office of the Attorney General is moving on from an employment lawsuit against the agency by four employees that presents the same issues brought against Attorney General Paxton in the impeachment trial,” the release stated. “The OAG has made the determination that these bad-faith efforts to prolong legal proceedings are an unjustifiable waste of taxpayer resources and an intolerable distraction that risks compromising critical state business.”

Perhaps it was a case of hoping to manifest an outcome, but the headline of the news release announcing his intentions seemed to be more wishful thinking than legal fact, stating “Attor­ney Gen­er­al Ken Pax­ton Releas­es State­ment End­ing Lit­i­ga­tion with For­mer Employees.”

Just to refresh your memory, a group that included some of Paxton’s top aides filed a wrongful termination suit against their former boss in 2020 under the Texas Whistleblower Act. The suit claimed the plaintiffs were fired by Paxton in retaliation for reporting him to the FBI for what they felt were misdeeds amounting to abuse of his office, especially as they pertained to helping real estate developer and Paxton campaign contributor Nate Paul.

Immediately after Paxton’s latest attempt to somehow bring the case to a close, an attorney representing the whistleblowers said the matter isn’t over, regardless of the AG’s legal maneuvering.

“[T]his is but another desperate stunt by Ken Paxton to try to avoid a court order compelling him to answer questions about his grimy behavior,” attorney Tom Nesbitt told Austin’s Fox 7 immediately after Paxton’s Jan. 18 announcement.

It’s important to note here that in his announcement, the AG didn’t mention his apparent allergy to being deposed, something a Travis County judge recently ruled that Paxton must do. As of now, he’s set to be deposed on Feb. 1. Paxton has a long history of finding ways to lengthen court cases, and University of North Texas political science professor Matthew Eshbaugh-Soha told the Observer via email that this latest move is likely “a useful delay.”

On Thursday night, the party line broke up a bit, if only just symbolically. State Sen. Drew Springer, a Republican from Muenster, one of the GOP state senators who was unmoved by nearly two weeks of eyewitness testimony detailing in highly specific terms just how severe Paxton’s alleged abuse of power was during the impeachment trial, admitted he was finally moved.

AG Paxton said, in his whistleblower lawsuit, that he “elects not to contest any issue of fact in this case, as to the claim or damages.” He cannot admit guilt while claiming innocence. I urge the Lt. Gov & my Senate colleagues to consider reopening Paxton’s impeachment. Paxton… pic.twitter.com/Z02SXRWdd8

— Drew Springer (@DrewSpringer) January 25, 2024

“At this stage, and the point of this letter, I am asking the Senate whether there is a legal mechanism to reopen the impeachment proceedings,” Springer wrote in a statement posted to X. “Failure to at least consider this possibility runs the risk of AG Paxton making a mockery of the Texas Senate.”

To be clear, according to Springer, now, four months after the fact, is the time to consider the possibility of removing Paxton, rather than in September 2023 when a real, live Senate impeachment trial was underway.

Springer is not seeking re-election this year, so perhaps there’s a hint of “What are they gonna do, not vote for me?” attitude in play. After all, he is not facing any of the Paxton-backed challengers that now dot the state’s GOP primaries. But it is still significant in that the question is being asked by a one-time Paxton backer after this latest offering of the AG’s signature opaque, obtuse brand of legalese.

Of course, Paxton replied with a shot of his own, calling Springer “a bad senator,” according to Texas Tribune reporter Patrick Svitek on Thursday night.

The outgoing senator’s call for another impeachment trial is eye-catching, but it’s difficult to imagine that it will go very far, given how the September trial played out. UNT’s Eshbaugh-Soha isn’t convinced the climate is ripe for such a move.

“This seems risky, especially right now,” he stated. “Perhaps from an electoral standpoint, impeachment proceedings after the primaries (and after any incumbent Republican legislators have fought off any primary challenges from the right) is a possibility. But everyone spent a lot of political capital on the first round. Why would Springer think that a conviction is more likely now than a few months ago? The Legislature has not become more opposed to Paxton (in terms of new membership or any changes of heart), and so the needle has not moved much, if at all, even with the judge’s decision to depose Paxton.”