Austin, Texas—Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was acquitted Saturday in the GOP-controlled state Senate on all 16 articles of impeachment, which included counts of bribery, dereliction of duty and disregard of official duties.
Paxton, who has beensuspended since May, when he was impeached by the Texas House, will be reinstated as attorney general.
Although more than 60 Republicans in the Texas House crossed party lines in May to impeach Paxton, his hold on the state Senate remained solid and only two Republicans voted to remove him from office on any of the counts. Paxton is a former state senator and his wife, Angela Paxton, is currently a state senator. She was barred from voting in the proceedings, but since she attended the trial, the state still needed 21 of the 31 senators to vote to convict.
Paxton had denied all wrongdoing. He did not attend the trial except for the first day, when he pleaded not guilty. He did not attend the final vote.
Paxton is a close ally of former President Donald Trump, and the former president posted ahead of the last day in support of Paxton, calling it a “shameful impeachment.”
This is a breaking story. It will be updated.