Tag Archives: Texas

The GOP Paid Influencers To Threaten Texas Senators

Mike Allen reports at Axios: National Republicans organized an under-the-radar campaign of outside conservative pressure on the Texas senators designed to neutralize mainstream media coverage, top strategists tell me. This outside unofficial team operated independently of the Paxton legal operation — like “a super PAC without the money,” a top GOP strategist said. Pro-Paxton forces also paid social media influencers …

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Texas Far-Right Vows Revenge After Paxton Acquittal

The Texas Tribune reports: Hours after his acquittal in the Texas Senate, Attorney General Ken Paxton’s far-right supporters doubled down on their promises for swift retribution against fellow Republicans who supported his removal from office. In particular, they vowed a scorched-earth campaign against House Speaker Dade Phelan, casting him as the ringleader responsible for the impeachment process and calling for …

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Texas GOP Leaders Attack Each Other On Paxton Result

The Texas Tribune reports: Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick broke his personal silence Saturday on Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment after the Senate voted for acquittal, blasting the House’s impeachment process as deeply flawed. “The speaker and his team rammed through the first impeachment of a statewide official in Texas in over 100 years while paying no attention to the precedent …

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Texas Senators Acquit AG Ken Paxton On All Counts

Austin’s CBS News affiliate reports: The Texas House of Representatives voted to adopt 20 articles of impeachment against the attorney general over Memorial Day weekend. Those articles included charges of constitutional bribery, disregard of official duty and misapplication of public resources. Paxton’s relationship with real estate developer and campaign donor Nate Paul were at the heart of the allegations made …

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LIVE VIDEO: Texas Senators Vote In Ken Paxton Case

The Texas Tribune reports: Texas Senators will being voting on impeached Attorney General Ken Paxton’s fate at 11:10 a.m. Saturday. They deliberated 16 articles of impeachment for more than seven hours Friday. Paxton is accused of misusing the powers of the attorney general’s office to help his friend and donor Nate Paul, an Austin real estate investor who was under …

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Texas Senators Begin Deliberations For Second Day

The Associated Press reports: Deliberations in Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton ‘s impeachment trial carried into a second day Saturday as a jury of mostly Republican senators decide whether to convict one of their party’s most powerful figures on corruption charges. The ongoing talks behind closed doors fed a rare lack of assurance about how a vote might go in …

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Paxton Impeachment Case Goes To Jury Of Senators

The Texas Tribune reports: The impeachment case against suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton has gone to the jury. Texas Senators will vote on 16 articles of impeachment. He is accused of misusing the powers of the attorney general’s office to help his friend and donor Nate Paul, an Austin real estate investor who was under federal investigation. The House impeachment …

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Paxton’s Mistress Had Planned To Plead The Fifth

The Texas Tribune reports: Lt. Gov Dan Patrick told the jury Wednesday afternoon that Laura Olson, the woman with whom suspended attorney general Ken Paxton is alleged to have had an extramarital affair, was present but deemed unavailable to testify. Upon questioning from Sen. Nathan Johnson, D-Dallas, in the chamber, Patrick said that lawyers from both sides have agreed that …

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LIVE VIDEO: Texas AG’s Mistress Testifies In His Trial

The Texas Tribune reports: Laura Olson, the woman with whom suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton allegedly had an affair, is expected to take the witness stand Wednesday after 3 p.m. The prosecution attempted to call Olson as their first witness on Wednesday, but Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said she was not eligible to testify yet because she had not been …

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TX AG’s Mistress To Testify Today In Impeachment Trial

The Associated Press reports: A woman with whom Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is said to have had an extramarital affair was expected to give public testimony Wednesday, setting up a dramatic moment in the Republican’s impeachment trial on charges of corruption and bribery. The affair is central to the historic proceedings and accusations that Paxton misused his power to …

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Paxton Chief Of Staff: I Told Him To Stop His Adultery

The Hill reports: The former chief of staff in Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office testified on Monday about the top law enforcement officer’s alleged affair as his historic impeachment trial continues into its second week. Katherine “Missy” Minter Cary recalled giving Paxton “ethics advice” about the risks of an extramarital affair and warned that the office morale was being …

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Texas Paid Bitcoin Miner $31M To Lower Power Usage

CBS News reports: As a bitcoin mining enterprise, Riot Platforms runs thousands of computers in the energy-guzzling pursuit of minting digital currency. Recently, however, the company got big bucks from Texas to lower the mining operation’s electricity usage. Riot said on Wednesday that the state’s power grid operator paid the company $31.7 million in energy credits in August — or …

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Whistleblower: Texas AG Kept “Blacklist” Of Reporters

The Texas Tribune reports: Whistleblower Ryan Vassar revealed during testimony Friday morning that the attorney general’s office kept a “blacklist” of reporters whom they “handled differently than other reporters.” Vassar testified that Dallas Morning News reporter Lauren McGaughy, who has covered the attorney general’s office for a decade, was on that list. The revelation came during the cross examination of …

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Texas Ordered To Remove Barriers From Rio Grande

Yahoo News reports: A U.S. judge ordered Texas to move floating buoys that were placed in the middle of the Rio Grande to block migrants from illegally crossing the U.S.-Mexico border, a tentative win for President Joe Biden, whose administration sued the state. U.S. District Court Judge David Ezra issued a preliminary injunction in Austin that requires Texas to relocate …

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Paxton Trial Turns To Discussion Of Extramarital Affair

The Texas Tribune reports: Jeff Mateer, the former second-in-command under suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton, testified Wednesday that Paxton’s relationship with real estate investor Nate Paul was so alarming that Mateer was concerned the attorney general was being blackmailed. Mateer said a turning point came when he learned that Paxton had resumed an extramarital affair with a woman who was …

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Impeachment Articles Upheld, Paxton Pleads Not Guilty

The Texas Tribune reports: The Texas Senate on Tuesday rejected all of Attorney General Ken Paxton’s efforts to dismiss the articles of impeachment against him, moving forward with the first removal proceeding against a statewide elected official in more than a century. The rapid-fire series of votes on 16 pretrial motions made clear that senators want to at least hear …

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LIVE VIDEO: Impeachment Trial Begins For Texas AG

The Texas Tribune reports: Ken Paxton arrived on the Texas Senate floor around 8:30 a.m. Tuesday and huddled with his attorneys. It was previously unclear if Paxton would be present for his impeachment trial, and his attorneys have vowed that he will not testify. Under Senate trial rules approved in June, the presiding officer — Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick — …

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TODAY: Texas AG Paxton’s Impeachment Trial Begins

The Texas Tribune reports: The impeachment trial for suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton is set to begin at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the Senate chamber of the Texas Capitol. The Senate gallery will be open to the public daily, beginning at 8 a.m., with tickets distributed for the morning session on a first-come, first-served basis starting at 7:30 a.m. on …

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Federal Judge Blocks Texas Porn Age Verification Law

Ars Technica reports: The day before a Texas anti-porn law that requires age verification to access adult websites was set to take effect, the state’s interim attorney general, Angela Colmenero, has been at least temporarily blocked from enforcing the law. US District Judge David Alan Ezra granted a preliminary injunction temporarily blocking enforcement after the Free Speech Coalition (FSC) joined …

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Texas AG: Unseat My GOP Critics, “Lets Clean House”

The Texas Tribune reports: Ken Paxton, the state’s embattled suspended attorney general, took jabs at his political opponents — including members of his own party — during a rare public appearance Saturday on the eve on his historic impeachment trial that begins next week. Paxton is under a gag order that prevents him from discussing the trial that begins Tuesday. …

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