I did not seen anything in the impeachment rules the other day that would allow the Lt. Governor or the senators themselves to call a special session for the trial, so Abbott will likely have to convene it. Since Paxton is removed from the office in the interim, I expect everyone will want the trial relatively soon.
Man, it must be bad, only picking up a couple dozen votes like that.
I was stunned. I thought the vote would be close. But the R’s were bringing the resolution forward.
I figured Phelan had to have a clear majority ready to impeach among his own caucus or he’d never bring it to the floor. But wow, that was a massacre.
Abbot should call the special session to start Memorial Day, just to get senators even more pissed at Paxton.
They’re already in session until Monday at midnight.
I thought that Abbott could appoint a provisional AG in the meantime?
If true, they might not feel any urgency holding the trial in the Senate.
He’s going to want his pick to be the incumbent at the next election, not just an interim guy.
Abbott’s probably gonna shiv Paxton in order to get his own guy in the office.
Since the House passed the 20 articles of impeachment 121-23 (80% voting in favor), they surpassed 2/3 in the House even though they didn’t need to.
Meaningless. The TX House threshold to impeach is 50%, a simple majority.
You are probably right. Texass is so gerrymandered that repubs pick their voters instead of the voters picking their reps. Plus, this state is full of racist bigots just like Paxton.
I figured that it was asking them to cough up $3.3 mil in TX taxpayer money – not all that common to begin with – in order to buy himself a “get out of lawsuit free” card that pushed them over the edge.
Mrs. 512 corrected me.
It was forcing them to vote on coughing up the $3.3 mil that pushed them over the edge.
She’s smarter than I am.
Yes and no.
The $3.3 million definitely stuck in their craw.
But they booted one of their own a couple weeks back for fucking interns. Not just for fucking interns, that’s standard behavior for Republican legislators on their semi-annual Rumspringa trip to Austin, but for fucking the teenage daughters of the donor and activist classes.
So as near as I can tell, the Lege got pissed off because Paxton fired a bunch of whistleblowers who ratted out blatant corruption even though they were true believers and prime movers in the GOP cause.
It would be like if Attorney General Greg Abbott had fired Solicitor General Ted Cruz for reporting that AG Greg had a real estate developer renovate his house and hire his extramarital girlfriend who’s Heidi Cruz, and then AG Greg also threatened to sic Fat Donnie on them if they didn’t give him $3.3 million.
My understanding is that paxhole put his staff in a situation where they would have to be complicit in his crimin’. They chose not to be hiring defense attorneys for the next five years.
I wonder how much of this is Abbot seeing the 2024 window open for him and deciding to clean up a home-state mess before he hits the hustings.
Probably not too much about 2024. Abbott is definitely thinking about 2024, but he doesn’t gain anything nationally by jettisoning Paxton. I view this dust-up as entirely a GOP knife-fight.
ETA: A Texas GOP knife fight.
If so, why now?
Everything is always fine inside the law firm until it’s not.
From the 2024 SAT question bank:
Paxton is the piece of shit of Texas. McCarthy is the piece of shit of Washington.
Compare and contrast.
Sounds like a treatment for a new Taylor Sheridan epic. Or an episode of Succession. Or any drama that successfully binds power to extreme wealth that is beyond most of our understanding. It does have a Shakespearean quality to it.
Title: The Resignation Game
Genre: Political Drama/Thriller
"Logline: When Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton finds himself at the center of a political firestorm, he faces mounting pressure from Governor Greg Abbott to resign and avoid a potentially damaging impeachment trial. As the state’s political landscape transforms into a battleground of power and deception, and in the face of mounting credible evidence against him, Paxton must try to navigate treacherous waters to stay in power by finding any means to stop the relentless pursuit to remove him from office.
The Resignation Game" explores the high-stakes world of politics, where personal ambitions collide with the pursuit of power. Through a gripping narrative filled with twists, betrayals, and moral dilemmas, the series exposes the dark underbelly of political power and showcases how a small group of equally corrupt politicians hold on to power by sacrificing one of their own."
