Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick claims Texas House spent $4.4M on Paxton impeachment

AUSTIN, Texas - Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick is claiming the Texas House spent more than $4.4 million during its 2023 impeachment investigation of Attorney General Ken Paxton.

By comparison, Patrick said the Senate only spent $435,000, less than 10% of what he claims the house spent.

What they're saying:

Patrick said House Speaker Dustin Burrows gave Patrick two boxes of expenditures that were given to the state auditor.

"It has been 1 year, 5 months, and 16 days since I called for an audit of all impeachment spending by the Texas House and Senate," Patrick said on social media platform, X. "I promptly turned over the Senate’s records to the State Auditor right after the trial."

Patrick said former House speaker Dade Phelan had been unwilling to release the chamber's spending after the impeachment trial.

"Taxpayers have a right to know how their money was spent on an impeachment and trial that should never have taken place," Patrick said. "Dade officially left the speaker’s office 2 months ago and still had not released the records."

Patrick claimed Phelan purposely withheld the records to avoid the topic during November's election and that the money was spent on outside attorneys.

Burrows was one of the 60 Republicans that voted to impeach the attorney general.

What's next:

Patrick said the files would be sent to the state auditor's office where the final cost of the trial will be determined.

Ken Paxton Impeachment Trial

The backstory:

The House investigation into Paxton started after whistleblowers inside the attorney general's office sued Paxton, claiming he retaliated against members of the office after the FBI opened an investigation into whether he had abused his authority to help a wealthy friend and donor.

The House General Investigating Committee cited a yearlong pattern of alleged misconduct and lawbreaking as the reason to recommend impeachment, which passed 121-23 in May 2023.

What followed was a nearly two-week trial that saw Paxton acquitted in the Texas Senate on all 16 articles of impeachment taken up against him.

Patrick has been calling for an audit on the trial since it ended.