I have a hard time believing this.
A crook any way you look
Attorney General Ken Paxton on Wednesday evening said the Texas House ethics committee, which scheduled a meeting for next week, is planning to recommend impeaching him a second time.
“Next week’s House General Investigating Committee is yet another desperate attempt by the Republican establishment to impeach me,” Paxton said in a statement. “Their bitter obsession with taking me down knows no bounds, and they will stop at nothing to remove me from office.”
Paxton did not provide evidence for his claim. A Paxton spokesperson did not respond to a request for further comment.
A member of the committee not authorized to speak for the group, however, said there was “no truth whatsoever” to Paxton’s claim.
[…]
In his statement Wednesday, Paxton said a second impeachment effort was being waged by “lame-duck Republicans” who “lost their primaries thanks to my support.”
Of the 60 House Republicans who voted to impeach Paxton last year, 13 lost their primaries and another four, including Murr, did not seek reelection. Most of the defeats were Republicans who were also targeted by Gov. Greg Abbott over their opposition to private school vouchers.
Putting aside the fact that Paxton is a lying liar who lies a lot and thus should never be believed, the claim just makes no sense on its face. Why would most of those Republicans want to revisit this issue, given the electoral consequences and the fact that it would be just as dead in the Senate now as it was last year? I can believe that enough of them might think Paxton deserves to be held accountable in some form, but this would just be another opportunity for them to be abused by the base. That might be worth the effort if they had a path to success, but they clearly don’t.
The story notes the recent signs of activity in the FBI investigation of Paxton, but 1) that’s all still rumor and hearsay, 2) even if it’s true we’re a long way off from anything resembling a trial, if it ever came to that, and 3) surely the Biden Justice Department announcing indictments against Ken Paxton would just cause more Republican rallying around him. How many legislative Republicans would still be on board after that? Color me extremely skeptical.
Honestly, the more interesting question is why Paxton would even bother to air this accusation. The primaries mostly vindicated him. Dade Phelan is highly unlikely to be Speaker again. Dan Patrick had his back. What’s his angle here? I’m open to suggestion.
Paxton’s saying this because fascism requires that the fascists always be the victims.