Presiding officer Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said both sides have used half of their allotted time for arguments and there will be no more days off until the trial is resolved. The fifth day of proceedings resumed Monday with testimony from a Paxton whistleblower, former Deputy Attorney General Mark Penley, according to The Associated Press. …
Penley is one of eight whistleblowers anticipated to testify. The whistleblowers are a group of former high-profile staffers in Paxton’s office that notified the FBI of Paxton’s alleged lawbreaking in protecting Austin realtor Nate Paul.
On May 27, the Texas House of Representatives voted to impeach Paxton over allegations of corruption, bribery, obstruction of justice and other charges, which relate to an investigation by the FBI into Paul. Paxton was temporarily removed from office until the resolution of the trial and could be removed from office if two-thirds of Texas senators support his impeachment.
[Bear in mind that both chambers are dominated by Republicans, but that’s not helping Paxton for good reasons. Even my friends here in Texas who are interested in politics aren’t terribly exercised by this impeachment. As for myself, I think Paxton more or less asked for it when he began a weird attack on state House speaker and fellow Republican Dade Phelan for supposedly being drunk on the floor. That pretty much lost Paxton the rest of his allies in the legislature as they were wrapping up an investigation into the claims of these whistleblowers. Karen’s been covering this as events warrant, and I suspect she’ll have the analysis on the spot when the Senate makes its decision. — Ed]
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