Texas Sen. Drew Springer (R-Muenster) wrote a letter to his Senate colleagues Thursday night, calling to reopen the Senate's impeachment trail into Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Springer voted to acquit Paxton in his impeachment trial last September but now feels misled after a recent court filing by the Attorney General.
I am asking the Senate whether there is a legal mechanism to reopen the impeachment proceedings. Failure to at least consider this possibility runs the risk of AG Paxton making a mockery of the Texas Senate.
Texas Sen. Drew Springer (R-Muenster)
In a court filing last week, Paxton's office told a Travis County court his agency will stop fighting the whistleblower lawsuit by four former top staffers. He wrote he no longer will contest accusations he illegally fired the whistleblowers after they reported him to the FBI for bribery and corruption.
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Violations of the Whistleblower Act were one of the Texas House's impeachment allegations against Paxton. Article 6 accused him of violating his duties of office by retaliating against employees who made a good-faith report to law enforcement. The Texas Senate acquitted Paxton of that charge in a vote of 16 to 14.
Springer voted to acquit at the time.
The whistleblowers reported Paxton to the FBI because they believed he used his office to help Austin real-estate developer Nate Paul in exchange for a job for his mistress and part of a home remodel. He denied all wrongdoing in the impeachment trial and continued until this latest filing in Travis County court.
In statement to the Texas Tribune, Paxton wrote : “Springer has to leave the senate because he was such a bad senator, wasn’t going to get re-elected, and needed a job. Why should anyone listen to his sour grapes.”
