WASHINGTON: The Texas Senate began deliberations in the impeachment trial of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday following eight days of testimony from whistle-blowers alleging corruption and defenders saying he did nothing wrong.
Paxton, a conservative Republican firebrand who is strongly aligned with former U.S. President Donald Trump, returned to the Senate chamber on Friday for the first time since the trial opened on Sept. 5.
He faces 16 articles of impeachment in the trial, in which the Republican-dominated Texas Senate serves as the jury.
Paxton has called the trial a political witch hunt.
Paxton, who has been suspended from office pending the outcome of the trial, faces permanent ouster if at least two-thirds of the Texas Senate — which includes 19 Republicans, among them his wife, who is not allowed to vote, and 12 Democrats — agree to convict on any count. It is the first impeachment proceeding against a statewide office holder in Texas in over a century.
“We discovered unprecedented abuse in the Texas attorney general’s office by Mr. Paxton,” said Republican state Representative Andrew Murr, who opened the prosecution’s closing arguments. –Agencies
