众议员安德鲁·穆尔，众议院总调查委员会主席，在对州检察长肯·帕克斯顿的弹劾程序中发言...显示更多undefined
美联社
德克萨斯州奥斯汀-历史性的控告在多年的刑事指控后，在美国最大的红色州，关于是否驱逐他们中的一员，德克萨斯州司法部长肯·帕克斯顿只是共和党争吵的第一轮。
帕克斯顿和他的盟友，来自前总统唐纳德·特朗普对于德州各地的右翼草根组织来说，现在就等着在帕克斯顿所希望的更友好的舞台上反击吧:州参议院的审判。
周日还不清楚这将在何时发生。共和党领导的参议院在立法会议的最后几天开会通过法案。但众议院议长、共和党副州长丹·帕特里克没有立即处理帕克斯顿弹劾案。
周日晚些时候，启动帕克斯顿弹劾案的众议院调查小组发出了十几份新的传票，要求帕克斯顿关联公司、企业、银行和金融信托公司提供证词和记录。目前还不清楚这些记录和证词能在参议院审判前多快收集到。
帕克斯顿说，在等待参议院审判时，他有“充分的信心”。他在那里的保守派盟友包括他的妻子、州参议员安吉拉·帕克斯顿(Angela Paxton)，她没有说她是否会回避决定她丈夫是否会被永久撤职的诉讼。
目前，在州众议院周六就包括贿赂和滥用公共信任在内的20条弹劾帕克斯顿后，德克萨斯州的三任司法部长立即被停职。
决定性的121比23的投票结果相当于共和党控制的众议院的明确谴责，此前近十年来，共和党议员对帕克斯顿涉嫌的不端行为采取了基本沉默的立场，其中包括2015年的证券欺诈重罪指控和联邦调查局正在进行的腐败指控调查。
他是德克萨斯州近200年历史上第三位被弹劾的在任官员。
“任何人都不应凌驾于法律之上，至少德克萨斯州的最高法律官员不应如此，”共和党众议员大卫·斯皮勒(David Spiller)说，他是众议院调查委员会的一员，该委员会本周透露，该委员会已悄悄调查帕克斯顿数月。
共和党德克萨斯州州长格雷格·艾伯特整个星期都对帕克斯顿保持沉默，包括在周六的弹劾后。在帕克斯顿于2015年上任之前，阿博特是该州的总检察长，他有权在参议院审判结果出来之前任命一名临时替代者。
帕克斯顿的最终免职需要参议院三分之二的投票，共和党成员通常与该党的强硬右翼保持一致。主持人帕特里克曾担任特朗普在德克萨斯州竞选活动的州主席。
一群参议院共和党人人周六晚些时候和周日发表了相同的声明，称他们“欢迎并鼓励来自我们选民的沟通”但该组织还表示，他们现在认为自己是陪审员，不会讨论帕克斯顿案件。
周六投票前，川普和美国参议员特德·克鲁兹为帕克斯顿辩护，这位参议员称弹劾程序是“一场闹剧”，并表示司法部长的法律问题应该留给法院解决。
“释放肯·帕克斯顿，”特朗普在他的社交媒体平台Truth Social上写道，并警告说，如果众议院共和党人继续弹劾，“我将与你斗争。”
60岁的帕克斯顿在他的几十名同党投票支持弹劾后谴责了众议院的结果。他的办公室指出，内部报告没有发现任何不当行为。
帕克斯顿说:“今天德克萨斯州众议院的丑陋景象证实了对我的无耻弹劾阴谋从来就没有公平或公正的意思。”"这从一开始就是出于政治动机的骗局。"
与帕克斯顿结盟的立法者试图通过指出雇佣的调查人员，而不是小组成员，采访证人来抹黑调查。他们还说，几名调查人员在民主党初选中投票，玷污了弹劾，共和党立法者没有太多时间审查证据。
“我认为这可能是政治武器化，”众议院最保守的议员之一托尼·廷德霍尔特(Tony Tinderholt)在投票前说。共和党众议员约翰·史密西将这一程序比作“周六暴民下午的私刑”
莱斯大学政治学教授马克·p·琼斯说，弹劾的迅速行动使帕克斯顿无法获得大量支持，并让默默沮丧的共和党人走到一起。
“如果你私下问问大多数共和党人，他们会觉得帕克斯顿令人难堪。但是大多数人太害怕基地组织而不敢反对他，”琼斯说。他补充说，通过作为一个大集团投票，立法者获得了政治掩护。
然而，对于帕克斯顿的长期批评者来说，这种指责早就该来了。
2014年，他承认违反了得克萨斯州证券法，一年后，他在达拉斯附近的家乡被指控证券欺诈，被指控欺诈一家科技初创公司的投资者。他对两项可能被判5至99年监禁的重罪不认罪。
他开设了一个法律辩护基金，并接受了一名高管的10万美元，该高管的公司正因医疗补助欺诈受到帕克斯顿办公室的调查。另外5万美元是由亚利桑那州的一名退休人员捐赠的，他的儿子帕克斯顿后来受雇于一个高级职位，但很快因在一次会议上展示儿童色情而被解雇。2020年，帕克斯顿干预了科罗拉多山区的一个社区，在那里，一名德克萨斯州捐赠者和大学同学面临着根据冠状病毒命令从他的湖边住宅中被移除。
但最终引发弹劾的是帕克斯顿与奥斯汀房地产开发商内特·保罗的关系。
2020年，八名高级助手告诉联邦调查局，他们担心帕克斯顿滥用他的办公室来帮助保罗，因为开发商未经证实的说法是一个精心策划的阴谋，窃取了他2亿美元的财产。联邦调查局在2019年搜查了保罗的家，但他没有受到指控，并否认有不当行为。帕克斯顿还告诉工作人员，他与一名女子有染，后来发现这名女子为保罗工作。
弹劾指控帕克斯顿试图干涉止赎诉讼，并发表法律意见，以利于保罗。弹劾中包括的贿赂指控称，保罗雇用了与帕克斯顿有婚外情的女子，以换取法律帮助，并支付了司法部长住宅的昂贵装修费用。帕克斯顿办公室的高级律师克里斯·希尔顿周五表示，司法部长支付了所有的维修和翻新费用。
包括向调查人员撒谎在内的其他指控，可以追溯到帕克斯顿仍然悬而未决的证券欺诈指控。
向联邦调查局举报帕克斯顿的四名助手后来根据德克萨斯州的举报人法提起诉讼，今年2月，他同意以330万美元了结此案。众议院委员会表示，调查是由帕克斯顿寻求立法批准这笔支出引发的。
“要不是帕克斯顿自己要求用纳税人的钱解决他的不当行为，帕克斯顿不会面临弹劾，”该小组说。
Fight still ahead for Texas' Ken Paxton after historic impeachment deepens GOP divisions
AUSTIN, Texas --The historicimpeachmentof Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was just the first round of a Republican brawl over whether to banish one of their own in America’s biggest red state after years of criminal accusations.
Paxton and his allies, from former PresidentDonald Trumpto hard-right grassroots organizations across Texas, now wait to fight back in what Paxton hopes will be a friendlier arena: a trial in the state Senate.
It was still unclear Sunday when this will take place. The Republican-led Senate met to pass bills in the final days of the legislative session. But the chamber’s presiding officer, Republican Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, did not immediately address the Paxton impeachment.
Late Sunday, the House of Representatives investigating panel that initiated Paxton's impeachment issued a dozen new subpoenas for testimony and records from Paxton associates, businesses, banks and financial trusts. It was unclear how quickly those records and testimony could be collected ahead of a Senate trial.
Paxton has said he has “full confidence” as he awaits a Senate trial. His conservative allies there include his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, who has not said whether she will recuse herself from the proceedings to determine whether her husband will be permanently removed from office.
For now, Texas' three-term attorney general is immediately suspended after the state House of Representatives on Saturday impeached Paxton on 20 articles that included bribery and abuse of public trust.
The decisive 121-23 vote amounted to a clear rebuke from the GOP-controlled chamber after nearly a decade of Republican lawmakers taking a mostly muted stance on Paxton's alleged misdeeds, which include felony securities fraud charges from 2015 and an ongoing FBI investigation into corruption accusations.
He is just the third sitting official in Texas' nearly 200-year history to have been impeached.
"No one person should be above the law, least not the top law officer of the state of Texas,” said Republican state Rep. David Spiller, who was part of a House investigative committee that this week revealed it had quietly been looking into Paxton for months.
Republican Texas Gov. Greg Abbott has remained silent about Paxton all week , including after Saturday's impeachment. Abbott, who was the state's attorney general prior to Paxton's taking the job in 2015, has the power to appoint a temporary replacement pending the outcome in the Senate trial.
Final removal of Paxton would require a two-thirds vote in the Senate, where Republican members are generally aligned with the party's hard right. Patrick, the presiding officer, has served as state chairman for Trump's campaigns in Texas.
A group of Senate Republicans issued identical statements late Saturday and Sunday saying they “welcome and encourage communication from our constituents.” But the group also said they now consider themselves jurors and will not discuss the Paxton case.
Before the vote Saturday, Trump and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz came to Paxton’s defense, with the senator calling the impeachment process “a travesty” and saying the attorney general’s legal troubles should be left to the courts.
“Free Ken Paxton,” Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social, warning that if House Republicans proceeded with the impeachment, “I will fight you.”
Paxton, 60, decried the outcome in the House moments after scores of his fellow partisans voted for impeachment. His office pointed to internal reports that found no wrongdoing.
“The ugly spectacle in the Texas House today confirmed the outrageous impeachment plot against me was never meant to be fair or just,” Paxton said. "It was a politically motivated sham from the beginning.”
Lawmakers allied with Paxton tried to discredit the investigation by noting that hired investigators, not panel members, interviewed witnesses. They also said several of the investigators had voted in Democratic primaries, tainting the impeachment, and that Republican legislators had too little time to review evidence.
“I perceive it could be political weaponization,” Rep. Tony Tinderholt, one of the House’s most conservative members, said before the vote. Republican Rep. John Smithee compared the proceeding to "a Saturday mob out for an afternoon lynching.”
Rice University political science professor Mark P. Jones said the swift move to impeach kept Paxton from rallying significant support and allowed quietly frustrated Republicans to come together.
“If you ask most Republicans privately, they feel Paxton is an embarrassment. But most were too afraid of the base to oppose him,” Jones said. By voting as a large bloc, he added, the lawmakers gained political cover.
To Paxton’s longstanding detractors, however, the rebuke was years overdue.
In 2014, he admitted to violating Texas securities law, and a year later was indicted on securities fraud charges in his hometown near Dallas, accused of defrauding investors in a tech startup. He pleaded not guilty to two felony counts carrying a potential sentence of five to 99 years.
He opened a legal defense fund and accepted $100,000 from an executive whose company was under investigation by Paxton’s office for Medicaid fraud. An additional $50,000 was donated by an Arizona retiree whose son Paxton later hired to a high-ranking job but soon was fired after displaying child pornography in a meeting. In 2020, Paxton intervened in a Colorado mountain community where a Texas donor and college classmate faced removal from his lakeside home under coronavirus orders.
But what ultimately unleashed the impeachment push was Paxton's relationship with Austin real estate developer Nate Paul.
In 2020, eight top aides told the FBI they were concerned Paxton was misusing his office to help Paul over the developer's unproven claims about an elaborate conspiracy to steal $200 million of his properties. The FBI searched Paul’s home in 2019, but he has not been charged and denies wrongdoing. Paxton also told staff members he had an affair with a woman who, it later emerged, worked for Paul.
The impeachment accuses Paxton of attempting to interfere in foreclosure lawsuits and issuing legal opinions to benefit Paul. The bribery charges included in the impeachment allege Paul employed the woman with whom Paxton had an affair in exchange for legal help and that he paid for expensive renovations to the attorney general's home. A senior lawyer for Paxton’s office, Chris Hilton, said Friday that the attorney general paid for all repairs and renovations.
Other charges, including lying to investigators, date back to Paxton’s still-pending securities fraud indictment.
Four aides who reported Paxton to the FBI later sued under Texas’ whistleblower law, and in February he agreed to settle the case for $3.3 million. The House committee said the probe was sparked by Paxton seeking legislative approval for the payout.
“But for Paxton’s own request for a taxpayer-funded settlement over his wrongful conduct, Paxton would not be facing impeachment,” the panel said.
