{"id":2025006,"date":"2023-09-07T18:12:01","date_gmt":"2023-09-07T22:12:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-depth-conservative-supporters-react-to-ag-ken-paxtons-impeachment-trial\/"},"modified":"2023-09-07T18:14:49","modified_gmt":"2023-09-07T22:14:49","slug":"in-depth-conservative-supporters-react-to-ag-ken-paxtons-impeachment-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-depth-conservative-supporters-react-to-ag-ken-paxtons-impeachment-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Conservative backers respond to AG Ken Paxton&#8217;s impeachment trial."},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">18<\/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%2Fin-depth-conservative-supporters-react-to-ag-ken-paxtons-impeachment-trial%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=2025006&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--><div data-post-content=\"true\" class=\"post_content\" id=\"post_content\">\n<p>Dozens of Texas Attorney General \u2062Ken Paxton&#8217;s supporters showed up \u2064to witness the beginning of the Senate impeachment trial at the Capitol in Austin, Texas, earlier this week.<\/p>\n<p>It\u200c has been\u200b over 100 years since a sitting official was impeached in the state of Texas, and \u200csome of Mr. Paxton&#8217;s supporters believe the accusations are reminiscent\u200b of the actions taken against former President Donald Trump over \u2063the past several years.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I think they&#8217;re convicting\u2064 [Paxton] of their own crimes,&#8221; Melissa Fryzel of Seguin, Texas, \u2062told\u200b The Epoch Times\u200c during an interview at the Capitol\u2062 on Tuesday. &#8220;I mean, that&#8217;s what we see all over and what we see at the national level. Just like \u2063with Trump, they accuse him\u2062 of the things \u2063that \u2063they&#8217;re doing.&#8221;<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<div class=\"border-comp-divider mb-4 mr-4 w-full max-w-[500px] border px-5 py-4 text-[16px] leading-[20px] text-[#262626] md:float-left\" id=\"in_article_related_stories\">\n<div class=\"mb-3 font-sans text-[16px] font-semibold uppercase leading-[19px] text-[#2F2F2F]\">Related \u2062Stories<\/div>\n<div class=\"mb-4 flex gap-2\">\n<div class=\"grow\">\n<div class=\"mb-1 line-clamp-2\">\n            <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/republicans-reject-motions-to-dismiss-impeachment-articles-against-texas-attorney-general-ken-paxton-5486408\">Republicans Reject Motions to Dismiss\u2062 Impeachment Articles Against Texas AG Ken Paxton<\/a>\n          <\/div>\n<div class=\"text-comp-caption text-[14px] leading-[18px]\">9\/5\/2023<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"shrink-0 basis-[120px]\">\n          <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/republicans-reject-motions-to-dismiss-impeachment-articles-against-texas-attorney-general-ken-paxton-5486408\"><\/a>\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"mb-4 flex gap-2\">\n<div class=\"grow\">\n<div class=\"mb-1 line-clamp-2\">\n            <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/epochtv\/texas-ag-ken-paxton-pleads-not-guilty-at-impeachment-trial-5486821\">Texas AG Ken Paxton \u200cPleads Not Guilty at Impeachment Trial<\/a>\n          <\/div>\n<div class=\"text-comp-caption text-[14px] leading-[18px]\">9\/5\/2023<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"shrink-0 basis-[120px]\">\n          <a href=\"http:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/epochtv\/texas-ag-ken-paxton-pleads-not-guilty-at-impeachment-trial-5486821\"><\/a>\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Ms. Fryzel said she has been\u2064 a GOP political activist since 2018 and has been attending each day of the trial.<\/p>\n<p>House impeachment managers\u200c have accused 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>\u200b of misusing his\u200d office to help campaign donor and Austin \u200creal estate investor Nate Paul, whose Austin home and business, World Class Holdings, were raided by the FBI in\u2064 August 2019.<\/p>\n<p>Rebecca Broughton, who attended the trial on Tuesday, told The Epoch Times that the whole matter has \u200bbeen &#8220;rush, rush, rush&#8221; to &#8220;get Ken Paxton out of here.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div class=\"shortcode post-related-videos\">\n<div class=\"lazyload-wrapper\">\n<div class=\"lazyload-placeholder\"><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&#8220;He was doing\u200c so good\u200b for the conservative values,&#8221; she said,\u2064 adding that he was pushing back against the \u200dBiden administration to secure the border and to protect Texans and everyone in the country.<\/p>\n<div class=\"my-5\">\n<p>    \u200c   A jury of 30 of the 31 senators will\u2063 determine whether the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/donald-trump-rejects-idea-that-he-didnt-drain-the-swamp-in-first-term\/\" title=\"Trump denies not 'draining the swamp' in first term.\">attorney\u200d general<\/a> will be removed from office. \u2062Mr. Paxton&#8217;s wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, is barred from \u2063voting. A <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theepochtimes.com\/us\/in-depth-heres-what-you-need-to-know-ahead-of-texas-ag-ken-paxtons-historic-impeachment-trial-5483480\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">two-thirds threshold<\/a> of\u200b 21 votes per article\u2062 is\u200b needed to convict \u2062the state&#8217;s top lawyer.\n  <\/div>\n<p>&#8220;I really think [the impeachment trial] is sad for Texas,&#8221; Ms. Broughton said. &#8220;It&#8217;s really sad \u2064for Texas because all\u200d these people are doing is saying your vote does \u200bnot count.&#8221;<\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-left:0;margin-right:0;max-width:1200px\">\n<figure style=\"width:640px;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>Members \u200bof the public \u200bline up outside the Texas State Senate\u2063 Gallery, waiting to enter for the start of the impeachment trial of Texas\u2063 Attorney General Ken Paxton in Austin, Texas, on Sept. 5, 2023. (LM Otero\/AP \u2063Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"my-5\">\n<p>    Mr. Paxton is the 51st \u2063attorney general of Texas and first took office in January 2015. He was\u2064 reelected to \u200ca third term in November 2022 after defeating George P. Bush in the primary.<br \/>\n   \u200c<\/p>\n<h2>Pretrial Motions Rejected<\/h2>\n<p>    \u2063 On Tuesday, the senators \u2062rejected all of \u2063Mr. Paxton&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/roger-stone-exclusive-does-cnn-ever-report-the-truth-cpac-rap-video-mischaracterized-in-smear\/\" title=\"ROGER STONE EXCLUSIVE: Does CNN Ever Report the Truth? CPAC Rap Video Mischaracterized in Smear\">pretrial motions<\/a> to \u2064dismiss the\u2064 impeachment articles.\n  <\/div>\n<p>Brian L. Owsley, \u200bassociate professor of law at the University of North Texas at Dallas, told The Epoch Times that he believes dismissing the articles would have been unfavorable\u2064 considering the trial&#8217;s attention.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;On some level, the time to short-circuit the impeachment would have been prior\u2064 to convening the trial,&#8221; Mr. \u2063Owsley said. &#8220;It is not a good look after the attention this impeachment trial had to forgo having the trial.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Owsley added that the trial is a &#8220;political process&#8221; that puts the Republican senators in a difficult position.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The \u2062senators are supposed to listen and consider only the evidence, but as political \u2062animals, they are cognizant\u2064 of polls and their \u200bconstituents&#8217; views,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Many of them do not like Paxton, but their constituents voted for him and still support him.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Paxton, who is suspended \u2064from office, pleaded not guilty on Tuesday to all 20 articles of impeachment against him. He has been absent from the Senate chamber-turned-courtroom since \u2062the\u2064 second half of the\u2063 first day of the trial.<\/p>\n<div class=\"my-5\">\n<p>    &#8220;I want to\u200c thank you all for your prayers and support.\u2062 I will never back down from defending freedom,&#8221; he wrote on X later\u2062 that day.<\/p>\n<h2>&#8216;Isn&#8217;t \u200cIt Ironic?&#8217;<\/h2>\n<p>    The House impeachment managers accused Mr. Paxton of intervening in a 2020 lawsuit \u200binvolving the Mitte Foundation, a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/breaking-president-trump-gives-pardons-to-73-individuals-and-commutes-another-70-sentences-steve-bannon-is-included\/\" title=\"BREAKING: President Trump Gives Pardons to 73 Individuals and Commutes Another 70 Sentences \u2013 Steve Bannon Is Included\">charitable organization<\/a> that provides scholarships to students in Texas, against his \u200ddeputies&#8217; recommendations, according to the first article of impeachment (<a href=\"https:\/\/senate.texas.gov\/_assets\/coi\/docs\/House-Managers-Response-to-MTD-Article-I-20230815.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">pdf<\/a>).\n  <\/div>\n<p>The document states that the foundation invested over $3 million in Mr. Paul&#8217;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/in-depth-conservative-supporters-react-to-ag-ken-paxtons-impeachment-trial\/\" title=\"Conservative backers respond to AG Ken Paxton's impeachment trial.\">real estate development companies<\/a> in 2011 \u200bin order \u200bto &#8220;grow its money to provide more scholarships.&#8221;\u200b World Class\u200c met its obligations to provide quarterly and annual financial\u2062 reports \u200duntil the\u200d third quarter of 2018. At that point, Mitte filed a lawsuit against World Class.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Paul allegedly agreed \u2063to buy out the foundation&#8217;s partnership in a $10 million settlement, which\u2064 he ultimately failed\u2062 to pay. Mitte took the company back to court, according to the impeachment article.<\/p>\n<p>The Office of\u200d the Attorney General (OAG) Charitable Trust Division was notified and conducted an investigation consistent with its duty \u2063to protect charitable organizations. The OAG determined it would not &#8220;intervene&#8221; but would reconsider if &#8220;additional parties or\u2062 causes of action&#8221; were added.<\/p>\n<p>The\u200b House impeachment managers claimed that Mr. Paul,\u200d who had donated $25,000 to Mr. Paxton&#8217;s campaign in 2018, allegedly went \u200dto his &#8220;friend&#8221; for help with the situation, according to the House impeachment\u200d committee.<\/p>\n<p>But Paxton attorney Tony Buzbee pointed out that Mr. Paxton&#8217;s office got involved after an additional inquiry regarding\u2064 Mitte was sent to the OAG.<\/p>\n<div style=\"margin-left:0;margin-right:0;max-width:1200px\">\n<figure style=\"width:640px;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto\" class=\"alignnone\"><figcaption>Texas state Attorney General Ken Paxton (C) sits\u200b with his attorneys Dan Cogdell (R)\u2062 and Tony Buzbee during his impeachment trial in the Senate Chamber at the Texas Capitol in Austin on Sept. 5, 2023. (Juan\u2064 Figueroa\/The Dallas Morning News via AP)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>In late September 2020, \u200ba\u200b group of top deputies\u200c from Mr. Paxton&#8217;s agency, including first assistant Jeff Mateer, \u2063told\u200d the FBI that Mr. Paxton had ignored their advice by getting involved in the case. They also claimed that Mr. Paxton hired an outside lawyer to probe the FBI raid on Mr. \u200cPaul.<\/p>\n<p>In return for Mr. Paul\u2019s alleged assistance from the\u2063 OAG, the former\u2063 employees\u2014all\u200c of whom were later either fired or resigned\u2014claimed that Mr. Paul helped hide Mr. Paxton&#8217;s extramarital affair \u2064and even hired the woman with whom Mr. Paxton was allegedly involved to work for his\u200c company.<\/p>\n<p>They also said that\u200c Mr. Paul paid for renovations at the Paxtons&#8217; home in Austin.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Mateer testified that he believed his boss&#8217;s\u200c actions were illegal, and that was why he and \u200bthe others\u2064 from the \u2064OAG went to the FBI with their accusations. Mr. Mateer resigned the following day.<\/p>\n<p>However, during\u200c Mr. \u2064Buzbee&#8217;s \u200ccross-examination on Wednesday, Mr.\u200b Mateer\u200c admitted that he and his colleagues had approved of Mr. Paxton&#8217;s office getting involved in the Mitte case.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I approved the executive memorandum,&#8221; Mr. Mateer told Mr. Buzbee in response to whether he was \u200cinvolved \u2064in the Mitte intervention.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Isn&#8217;t it ironic that the first witness called in this case for the House on the first article of impeachment that was passed, that this witness\u2014you [Mr. Mateer]\u2014approved that intervention?&#8221; Mr. Buzbee replied.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Isn&#8217;t that ironic? Don&#8217;t you think that kind of\u200c reflects the whole House&#8217;s case?&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The federal investigation into the allegations against Mr. Paxton did not result in any charges.<\/p>\n<div class=\"my-5\">\n<p>    \u200d   Mr. Mateer, who\u200d describes himself as a Christian conservative lawyer, was once nominated by former President Trump to a federal judgeship. But his nomination was\u200b later withdrawn after U.S. senators\u2063 learned that Mr. Mateer \u2064had made comments in 2015 that he believed transgender children were &#8220;Satan&#8217;s\u200c spawn&#8221; and \u200bsupported a judge&#8217;s right to support certain \u2064types of discrimination, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.texastribune.org\/2017\/12\/13\/two-controversial-federal-judge-nominees-will-not-be-confirmed-senate-\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The Texas Tribune<\/a> \u200dreported in 2017.\n  <\/div>\n<div class=\"my-5\">\n<p>    Mr. Paxton has been a staunch s\n  <\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Dozens of supporters of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton gathered at the Capitol in Austin to witness the start of his Senate impeachment trial. It&#8217;s been a century since a sitting official in Texas faced impeachment, and some of Paxton&#8217;s backers see parallels between the current accusations and past events.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1556,"featured_media":2025007,"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":[],"class_list":["post-2025006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-epoch-times"],"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\/2025006","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=2025006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2025006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2025007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2025006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2025006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2025006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}