Left: Texas Sen. Angela Paxton (R) (via Texas Senate). Right: Texas state Attorney General Ken Paxton makes a statement at his office in Austin, Texas, on May 26, 2023. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
The state senator wife of the Texas attorney general currently facing abuse and misconduct allegations — some linked to his alleged affair with a woman who was reportedly on a wealthy donor’s payroll — will not be allowed to vote in her husband’s upcoming impeachment trial.
Texas Sen. Angela Paxton, the longtime wife of Attorney General Ken Paxton, will be required to observe the impeachment trial against her husband, but she is barred from voting due to a conflict of interest, according to rules approved Wednesday by the state’s Republican-controlled senate.
“A member of the court who is the spouse of a party to the court of impeachment is considered to have a conflict pursuant to […] the Texas Constitution,” the rules say. “Such member of the court shall be seated in the court of impeachment […] However, such member of the court shall not be eligible to vote on any matter, motion, or question, or participate in closed sessions or deliberations.”
In other words, the state senate has determined that Angela Paxton must be there for her husband’s impeachment proceedings, but she is not allowed to have a say in the outcome. State senators, according to the impeachment rules, are “members” of the impeachment court for voting purposes and they will deliberate over the impeachment trial in closed sessions. A two-thirds majority of the 31-member senate may vote to suspend the rules.
Ken Paxton was hit with nearly two dozen articles of impeachment in May after years of alleged wrongdoing. The Texas House of Representatives alleged that the three-term attorney general engaged in at least 20 separate abuses of power, including taking bribes, obstructing justice in a criminal case pending against him, issuing improper grand jury subpoenas, and violating state whistleblower laws by firing employees who reported his misconduct. He has been suspended pending trial.
According to the impeachment allegations, real estate investor and wealthy Ken Paxton donor Nate Paul paid thousands for renovations to the attorney general’s home and employed a woman with whom Ken Paxton had an extramarital affair in exchange for Paxton allegedly using his office to improperly provide Paul with an FBI file related to an investigation of him.
Earlier this month, Paul was indicted for alleged federal crimes, including making false statements or reports on financial documents. He has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Ken Paxton’s other legal troubles include a 2015 indictment on securities fraud charges, to which he has pleaded not guilty. He also amplified baseless claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election and sued several states in an effort to overturn President Joe Biden’s win — a complaint deemed “bats— insane” and “weird” by lawyers in the Florida attorney general’s office.
The Texas senate set the start of Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial for Sept. 5. If convicted, he could be removed from office and barred from holding future office in the Lone Star State.
Elura Nanos contributed to this report.
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