Above The Law!

In Florida Gov. DeSantis went after prosecutors because he didn’t like their politics. In Congress the Republicans want to impeach President Biden even though they have no evidence of a crime. In Wisconsin they want to impeach Justice Janet Protasiewicz because she is a Democrat. In Georgia the want to to impeach Fani Willis because she had the nerve to indict Trump. On and  on the list goes, at a drop of a hat the Republicans are eager to impeach in all but one case. A fellow Republican, they are doing everything they can to side step the impeachment.

A Conservative Push to Save Ken Paxton

The effort to help the Texas attorney general, whose impeachment trial starts Tuesday, is part of an ongoing struggle over the Republican Party’s future.

New York Times

By J. David Goodman

September 4, 2023

With television ads and text messages, direct mail and billboards, supporters of the embattled Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton, have embarked on an escalating campaign of political pressure, backed by hard-right billionaires, aimed at trying to sway the outcome of Mr. Paxton’s upcoming impeachment trial.

The targets of their efforts are narrow: the 19 Republican members of the State Senate who will act as jurors in the trial, set to begin on Tuesday, and decide whether allegations of corruption and abuse of power are serious enough to warrant permanently removing and barring Mr. Paxton from office.

But the effort to save Mr. Paxton, who is seen by many hard-core conservatives as their legal standard-bearer, is also the latest proxy in the broader fight over the future direction of the party, both in Texas and nationally.

[…]

“We want the entire MAGA movement to understand that what’s going on in Texas is not just about Texas,” Mr. Bannon told his podcast audience this month.

The wrangling over Mr. Paxton’s fate has reflected the same deep Republican divisions that emerged in Georgia over the indictment of Donald J. Trump, raising again the question of whether Republicans are willing to hold fellow conservatives to account — and whether, if they do so, they can survive a primary.

But, but, he’s one of the “Good Guys” he wears a red MAGA hat! We don't go after one of our own!

In May, a majority of Republicans in the House joined with Democrats to impeach Mr. Paxton, disturbed by his conduct in office — including longstanding allegations of corruption and a criminal indictment for securities fraud — and his effort to obtain $3.3 million in state funding to settle a lawsuit brought against him by some of his senior aides, who became whistle-blowers.

They broke the cardinal Republican rule “Tho shall not speak badly of another Republican.”Texas braces for the historic impeachment trial of Attorney General Ken Paxton

The conservative firebrand and key Trump ally has been accused of corruption by his own party. Here's what you need to know about the trial.

NBC News

By Jane C. Timm

September 4, 2023

The Texas Senate will convene as a high court Tuesday to consider the impeachment of Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican firebrand accused by his own party of taking bribes and abusing his office.

Paxton, 60, has spent the past decade as the right's chief legal attack dog, fighting many of President Donald Trump’s battles from Austin. Lawsuits to overturn the Affordable Care Act, legal protections for undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children — commonly known as “Dreamers” — and the results of the 2020 election made him a popular force for the right, even after he was indicted for securities fraud. But his political support fractured this year when the Republican-controlled Texas House of Representatives voted 121-23 to impeach him on charges of abuse of office and bribery.

[…]

Paxton has faced allegations of wrongdoing and legal troubles for years. He was indicted on securities fraud counts in 2015, and his own staff reported him to the FBI for suspected corruption in 2020 over his dealings with Nate Paul, a donor and real estate investor. After whistleblowers sued and Paxton struck a $3.3 million settlement, House members began investigating the whistleblowers' claims in secret before impeaching Paxton on May 27 on 20 articles of impeachment.

According to the articles, Paxton used his power and office to help Paul work through legal difficulties. They also accuse him of accepting bribes in the form of renovations to his home and a job for a woman with whom he was having an extramarital affair. The articles say that when confronted allegations of wrongdoing, Paxton retaliated against whistleblowers in his office and spent government money trying to cover up his wrongdoing with a sham investigation into their claims.

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Will the Republicans cross the thin red party line? In the past they have convicted their own but most of the impeachment were before Trump and MAGA, after that it has become much more polarized and politicized. So beginning today the trial begins in the Senate. Stay tune for further updates!