The wife of embattled Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton may be called upon to help decide his political fate should he be impeached Saturday on a series of charges, including one related to an affair.
Angela Paxton is a two-term GOP state senator from McKinney.
If the attorney general is impeached by the state’s House of Representatives when it votes Saturday afternoon, Sen. Paxton and her 30 colleagues in the state’s upper chamber would serve as the jurors in his trial there.
Both houses of the Texas legislature and the governor’s office are controlled by Paxton’s fellow Republicans.
On Thursday, the Texas House Investigative Committee voted 5-0 to adopt articles of impeachment against the attorney general. The impeachment comes amid an FBI criminal probe into allegations that Paxton used his office to improperly assist Nate Paul, a wealthy real estate investor and one of his big-time donors.
Adding more intrigue to the story, one of the charges concerns alleged bribery after Paul was accused of giving a job to a woman Paxton was having an affair with in exchange for legal services. Paxton came clean about the affair to senior members of his political staff in 2018.
The possibility of Paxton’s wife weighing in on the matter has already caused controversy, and critics have called for her to recuse herself.
“There is no court in the country that would allow a spouse to sit in judgment of the defendant or have contact with the jurors,” said Adrian Shelley, the Texas director of Public Citizen, a good government nonprofit.
“No reasonable person could argue that Sen. Paxton can cast an impartial vote.”
The group added that Sen. Paxton’s involvement would also violate the Texas Constitution.
A rep for Sen. Paxton did not respond to a request for comment from The Post.
In a press conference after the committee vote, the attorney general condemned the impeachment effort as a political hit job and called for peaceful protests outside the state capitol Saturday.
“They are determined to ignore the law,” Paxton said. “They have denied me the opportunity to present the evidence which contradicts their politically motivated narrative, and they are showcasing their absolute contempt for the electoral process.”
One supporter who aired criticism of the impeachment proceedings was Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, who tweeted Saturday that “Virtually all of the information in the articles was public BEFORE Election Day, and the voters chose to re-elect Ken Paxton by a large margin.
“In my view, the Texas Legislature should respect the choice of the Texas voters.”
Cruz claimed that Paxton was the victim of politics.
“For the last nine years, Ken has been the strongest conservative AG in the country. Bar none. No attorney general has battled the abuses of the Biden admin more ferociously—and more effectively—than has Paxton,” the two-term senator, who is up for reelection next year, said in the tweet.
“That’s why the swamp in Austin wants him out. The special interests don’t want a steadfast conservative AG. I understand that people are concerned about Ken’s legal challenges. But the courts should sort them out.”
