{"id":1941410,"date":"2023-05-31T16:22:01","date_gmt":"2023-05-31T20:22:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/analysis-ken-paxton-impeachment-highlights-divisions-among-texas-republicans\/"},"modified":"2023-05-31T16:24:26","modified_gmt":"2023-05-31T20:24:26","slug":"analysis-ken-paxton-impeachment-highlights-divisions-among-texas-republicans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/analysis-ken-paxton-impeachment-highlights-divisions-among-texas-republicans\/","title":{"rendered":"Ken Paxton&#8217;s impeachment exposes rifts in Texas GOP."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fanalysis-ken-paxton-impeachment-highlights-divisions-among-texas-republicans%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=1941410&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><h2>The Impeachment of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton: A Divided House<\/h2>\n<p>The recent impeachment of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has caused a rift among members of the Republican Party of Texas. The Republican-controlled House voted to impeach Paxton, sending 20 articles of impeachment to the state Senate. The House needed a simple majority of its 149 members to move forward with the impeachment, and 60 of the 85 House Republicans voted with Democrats in a final vote of 121\u201323.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>The House impeachment process was \u201cabsolutely political targeting,\u201d and the House General Investigating Committee process was \u201cflawed\u201d and \u201cdespicable,\u201d Republican state Rep. Tony Tinderholt said during a May 30 interview on Newsmax.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The accusations against Paxton include misuse of official powers, bribery, and abuse of public trust. The 60-year-old, who has been under federal investigation, was elected to a third term in November.<\/p>\n<h3>A Divided House<\/h3>\n<p>Paxton\u2019s supporters have denounced the impeachment, some calling it \u201ca sham railroading of a political enemy.\u201d Republican state Rep. Brian Harrison wrote on Twitter, \u201cI oppose the impeachment of AG #Paxton; not because I am convinced of his innocence, but because #texlege House leadership made no attempt to adequately document his guilt not to demonstrate that this is anything other than a sham railroading of a political enemy.\u201d<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThere was no <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/breaking-kraken-released-attorney-sidney-powell-files-104-page-bombshell-complaint-of-massive-fraud-in-georgia-election-update-michigan-too\/\" title=\"BREAKING: KRAKEN RELEASED! Attorney Sidney Powell Files 104 Page BOMBSHELL COMPLAINT of Massive Fraud in Georgia Election - Update: Michigan too\">due process<\/a>. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/breaking-ag-barr-authorizes-federal-prosecutors-to-pursue-substantial-allegations-of-voting-irregularities-before-2020-election-is-certified\/\" title=\"BREAKING: AG Barr Authorizes Federal Prosecutors to Pursue \"Substantial Allegations\" of Voting Irregularities Before 2020 Election is Certified\">attorney general<\/a> was never afforded the opportunity to defend himself like historically has happened,\u201d Republican state Rep. Tony Tinderholt said.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Tinderholt said it can be difficult for members to vote against the speaker, but some in the House were strong enough to do it, adding that his vote was not about whether Paxton is guilty or innocent but rather the flaws in the process.<\/p>\n<h3>Concerns About Impeachment Process<\/h3>\n<p>State Rep. Matt Schaefer expressed \u201cgrave concerns\u201d regarding the impeachment process in a lengthy statement on Twitter ahead of the vote. House members were not provided with transcripts of witness interviews or substantiating documents, according to Schaefer.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cTo be clear, the full Texas House has not heard any testimony from witnesses, nor have we been provided transcripts of such testimony. As I write this, I cannot determine whether those witnesses were under oath when they were interviewed by staff. I asked two members of the committee, and they did not know the answer,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Schaefer said that although he opposed Paxton\u2019s reelection during the primary and even called out the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fncs-dean-msm-coverage-of-cuomo-was-puff-pieces-while-there-were-bodybags-piling-up\/\" title=\"FNC's Dean: MSM Coverage of Cuomo Was 'Puff Pieces' While 'There Were Bodybags Piling up'\">attorney general\u2019<\/a>s \u201cvery serious and moral and legal failings,\u201d he could not vote in favor of impeachment because the House failed in its process on the matter.<\/p>\n<h3>Party Leader Weighs In<\/h3>\n<p>Republican Party of Texas Chair Matt Rinaldi said Phelan has worked to stop the \u201cconservative direction\u201d of the state by appointing Democrats to high-ranking leadership positions and battling conservative leaders to kill Gov. Greg Abbott\u2019s top priorities this legislative session.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>\u201cThis sham impeachment is the result of the Phelan leadership team empowering Democrats, allowing them to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/whos-afraid-of-elise-stefanik\/\" title=\"Who\u2019s Afraid of Elise Stefanik?\">hold leadership positions<\/a> and control the agenda. It is based on allegations already litigated by voters, led by a liberal Speaker trying to undermine his adversaries, and investigated by lawyers connected to a Democrat on the House General Investigations Committee,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wrote on Twitter on May 29 that Phelan \u201cleft a meeting in a huff\u201d the night before with himself and Abbott, \u201ckilling the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/analysis-ken-paxton-impeachment-highlights-divisions-among-texas-republicans\/\" title=\"Ken Paxton's impeachment exposes rifts in Texas GOP.\">largest property tax cut<\/a> in history by demanding an appraisal cap for business commercial properties that most business associations don\u2019t even want.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton&#8217;s impeachment has exposed the rifts within the Republican Party of Texas. The House, controlled by Republicans, voted to impeach Paxton on May 27, sending 20 articles of impeachment to the Senate. A simple majority of the House&#8217;s 149 members was required to proceed with the impeachment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1556,"featured_media":1941411,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[543],"tags":[6897,6203,3636,12953,22424,27988,3694],"class_list":["post-1941410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times","tag-exposes","tag-gop","tag-impeachment","tag-ken","tag-paxtons","tag-rifts","tag-texas"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/cndimages.nyc3.digitaloceanspaces.com\/breaking-news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/IMG_2758-scaled-1.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1941410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1556"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1941410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1941410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1941411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1941410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1941410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1941410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}