Texas Tribune / Eli Hartman
The state Capitol early within the morning of Sept. 6, 2023, the third day of the impeachment trial in Austin.
It has been nearly every week for the reason that Texas Senate voted to acquit Legal professional Common Ken Paxton in his impeachment trial — and the recriminations are nonetheless flying amongst Republicans.
Critics of the decision, together with Home Speaker Dade Phelan, are persevering with to accuse Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick of rigging the trial, whereas Patrick is fiercely pushing again.
“For the armchair authorized strategists’ opinion on what ought to have been completed in another way, I’d remind them there’s nothing else that might have been completed — the repair was in from the beginning,” Phelan stated in an op-ed he wrote for his hometown newspaper printed Friday afternoon.
Patrick responded to the op-ed in a prolonged tweet, saying Phelan’s perception “is disgusting and proves he’s unworthy of his management place.”
Patrick has repeatedly denied accusations of being biased because the trial choose and went on a tirade earlier Friday in opposition to a Democratic state senator who criticized his function. With Patrick underneath hearth on a number of fronts, some GOP senators are circulating a press release insisting that he had no affect over the jury deliberations.
Paxton, for his half, has returned to work whereas vowing political payback, and his allies are proving prepared to help him. The State Republican Government Committee is ready to vote on a decision Saturday calling for Phelan’s resignation.
The Senate voted six days in the past to acquit Paxton on all 16 impeachment articles within the trial that accused him of bribery and misuse of his workplace. Patrick ended the proceedings with a fiery speech that criticized the way in which the Home members dealt with impeaching Paxton within the first place. The result escalated an already budding civil conflict within the Texas GOP.
Phelan rapidly criticized Patrick as displaying he had been biased all alongside, and rumors started spreading that Patrick had meddled in jury deliberations, particularly after a Wall Road Journal editorial claimed Patrick “lobbied” senators. He has repeatedly denied that.
State Sen. Sarah Eckhardt, D-Austin, who was a member of the jury together with 29 different senators, has additionally emerged as a vocal critic of how Patrick dealt with his function as presiding officer of the trial. Whereas Eckhardt is a Democrat, Patrick guidelines the chamber with an iron first and it’s uncommon for even the minority occasion to strongly criticize him.
Eckhardt submitted a press release for the court docket file that warned future senators about placing their religion in a presiding officer like Patrick.
“I like to recommend that, like nearly each different impeachment trial in U.S. historical past, any future Impeachment tribunal choose an skilled jurist with a robust fame for neutrality to preside,” Eckhardt wrote.
She stated Patrick compromised his neutrality by taking $3 million from a pro-Paxton group in June and delivering “statements of maximum bias from the bench instantly after the decision was returned.” She additionally took challenge with what she described as “his inconsistent and sometimes legally indefensible rulings on motions and objection.”
Patrick issued an extended assertion Friday that referred to as Eckhardt “flat out mistaken” and accused her of “obliviousness.” He particularly objected to her suggestion in her assertion that he made the dedication to maintain Laura Olson, a key Home witness, from testifying. Olson is the lady with whom Paxton allegedly had an extramarital affair. Patrick stated he by no means dominated on whether or not she may testify and it was the 2 sides who agreed to deem her “current however unavailable to testify.”
Eckhardt tweeted that she stood by her assertion.
Senators had the chance to submit such statements for the data inside 72 hours of the decision. However almost every week after the trial ended, the Senate nonetheless has not printed the journal the place all these statements are alleged to be compiled. Eckhardt’s workplace selected to launch her assertion by itself.
With Patrick taking hearth on a number of fronts, GOP senators have been circulating a draft assertion that defends his function within the course of and insists he had no affect in jury deliberations. One senator who voted to acquit, Sen. Tan Parker, R-Flower Mound, confirmed the existence of such a press release, calling it a “working draft of an oped … that’s within the strategy of being edited for publication within the Wall Road Journal.”
Solely two Republicans voted to convict Paxton: Sens. Robert Nichols of Jacksonville and Kelly Hancock of North Richland Hills. Hancock has been extra outspoken than Nichols, giving a number of interviews on his resolution.
Hancock has stated he’s “at peace” together with his resolution and won’t be intimidated as he considers whether or not to run for reelection in 2026.
Republican activists are already working to punish the Home Republicans who voted to question Paxton, beginning with Phelan. The Texas GOP resolutions committee superior a decision Friday calling for Phelan’s resignation, saying he “pressured different Home members to vote for the impeachment … and continues to defend his motion regardless of the weak point of the case.” The complete State Republican Government Committee is anticipated to vote on the decision Saturday.
Phelan’s workplace declined to remark.
This text initially appeared in The Texas Tribune.
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