Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial will begin Sept. 5, with his attendance required
AUSTIN, Texas - The impeachment trial of suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton will begin at 9 a.m. Sept. 5, the Texas Senate announced Wednesday night after two days of private meetings to draft the trial rules.
A resolution laying out the rules was adopted on a 25-3 vote without discussion, and the rules have not yet been posted on the Senate website.
A separate resolution, adopted 28-0, requires Paxton to appear in person in the Senate chamber "to answer the said charges of impeachment."
Previously:
The Texas Senate met in private Tuesday and Wednesday to draft rules governing the impeachment trial of suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton but took no public action despite several lengthy meetings in private and multiple recesses.
Senators emerged from a closed-door meeting shortly after 9 p.m. Tuesday and recessed until 10 a.m. Wednesday, then followed up by recessing again, this time until 1 p.m. "as the Senate is working hard on rules," said Sen. Paul Bettencourt, a Houston Republican who made the motion to recess.
Bettencourt returned later to announce another recess until 5 p.m. Wednesday, expressing hope that additional delays would not be needed. Instead, the recess was extended, twice, first to 6:30, then to 7:30 p.m.
On the final day of the regular legislative session in late May, senators created a committee of seven senators, gave it permission to conduct its business in private and directed it to return Tuesday to present rules of procedure to a "caucus of the Senate" — which typically meets outside of public view. On Monday, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who presides over the Senate, indicated that the impeachment trial rules might not be made public until later this week.
The resolution that created the committee also gave Patrick the authority to set an impeachment trial to begin no later than Aug. 28.
Members of the committee have not publicly discussed their work, but that has not stopped Paxton’s allies and the House impeachment managers from lobbying for their preferred package of rules.
Paxton’s legal team, led by boisterous Houston attorney Tony Buzbee, has urged the committee to recommend rules that would allow the Senate to toss out the House-approved articles of impeachment, calling the procedure a "kangaroo court" because Paxton was not given the opportunity to defend himself.
The House managers, who have hired Texas legal giants Dick DeGuerin and Rusty Hardin to present the case against Paxton, sent the Senate committee 17 examples of rules that were used in past impeachment trials in Texas, including a recusal rule.
Patrick on Monday tamped down on talk about ending the impeachment trial before it can begin.