Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton acquitted of corruption charges at historic impeachment trial
- The verdict reaffirms the power of the Republican Party’s hard right and puts an indicted incumbent who remains under FBI investigation back into office
- Paxton still faces trial on securities fraud charges and could lose his ability to practice law in Texas because of his bids to overturn the 2020 election
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was fully acquitted on Saturday of corruption charges in a historic impeachment trial, a resounding verdict that reaffirms the power of the Republican Party’s hard right and puts an indicted incumbent who remains under FBI investigation back into office.
The outcome demonstrated Paxton’s enduring durability in America’s biggest red state after years of criminal charges and scandal. And more broadly, it delivered a signature victory for the Texas Republican Party’s ascendent conservative wing following a trial that gave a rare window into divisions among Republicans nationally heading into 2024.
Accused of misusing his office to protect a campaign contributor, Paxton emerged from Texas’ first impeachment trial in nearly a half-century both politically intact and back at a job that has won him conservative admirers across the US, including former President Donald Trump.
Paxton did not attend most of the trial and was not in the Senate when the verdict was read.
“Today, the truth prevailed. The truth could not be buried by mudslinging politicians or their powerful benefactors,” he said in a statement. “I’ve said many times: Seek the truth! And that is what was accomplished.”