Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has continued to slam the House managers behind the impeachment effort against Attorney General Ken Paxton, while the recently reinstated AG has announced his first round of endorsements of primary candidates challenging those who voted for his removal.
In a statement, Patrick said the House managers were “still trying to wipe the egg off their face,” slamming Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) again for the “flawed process that started when the Texas House Managers hastily initiated and rushed impeachment proceedings.”
“The House Managers’ shoddy work, poorly constructed and vaguely written articles, poor procedures, and shortcuts on fairness and due process resulted in a presentation before the Senate that collapsed like a house of cards,” the lieutenant governor declared.
“Weeks after the conclusion of the trial, the House Managers, fumbling for an excuse for their pitiful process and performance, have made another desperate attempt to justify their actions,” he continued.
“Now the Managers are having a juvenile meltdown. Desperate for vindication, they claim a vast right-wing conspiracy enveloped the Senate. It’s embarrassing,” Patrick said. “With the trial over and the verdict announced, the House Managers now want a mulligan.”
“The House Managers performed like a tee-ball player tripping over their shoelaces. They mumbled and bumbled, complaining about the rules they and their legal team had agreed to play by, fumbled the resting of their case, and even tried to put one of their own attorneys on the stand to testify,” he added.
“If the Speaker and House Managers had followed any commonsense approach during their impeachment process or the precedent of any statewide elected official impeachment, they never would have sent the articles to the Senate,” Patrick suggested. “It was clear they never had any credible evidence that met the standard of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Patrick’s comments come only days after the House managers independently released more documents they claimed were wrongfully blocked from entry due to the rules. However, the initial uploads included Paxton’s private home address, potentially violating a recently passed law, as reported by The Dallas Express.
Around the same time that Patrick released his statement, Attorney General Ken Paxton announced his first round of endorsements in the Republican primary challengers.
“Texas conservatives have seen their State House hijacked by liberal RINO Republicans for far too long,” Paxton claimed. “Texas should be a leading beacon for conservative policies.”
“Instead, Texas has had to watch a liberal House Speaker and his loyalists kill hundreds of pieces of conservative legislation that would unleash untold economic growth and secure even more freedom,” he continued. “I have had enough, and I know conservative voters have had enough.”
Specifically, Paxton endorsed David Covey over Rep. Phelan, Wes Virdell over Rep. Andrew Murr (R-Junction), Andy Hopper over Rep. Lynn Stucky (R-Denton), Mike Olcott over Rep. Glenn Rogers (R-Graford), John Perez over Rep. Mano DeAyala (R-Houston), Matt Morgan over Rep. Jacey Jetton (R-Richmond), and Brent Money in the open seat for House District 2.
For his part, Speaker Phelan has continued to defend the impeachment effort against Paxton.
As reported in The Dallas Express, the speaker commended the House in a statement released after the Senate voted to acquit, saying, “I extend my utmost thanks to the House Board of Managers and their legal team for their diligent work on this matter, and to each of the 121 House Members who bravely acted in the best interest of this state by voting to advance the articles of impeachment.
“It was a difficult vote to take, but not a difficult decision. And unlike others, they chose principles over politics. I stand with them in full support of their decision and recognize the sacrifices they made in the name of doing what is right. Because of them, Texans had the ability to hear the evidence in a public trial, as the founders of this great state intended.”
Phelan has maintained that the Senate trial was rigged.
“[T]he evidence against Paxton presented to our chamber after a months-long investigation into allegations involving bribery, deceit and other types of disturbing misconduct, was more than damning, and our chamber overwhelmingly agreed that a further examination of the facts was merited,” he said, as reported by The Dallas Express.
“Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who led us to believe he would preside over this trial in a fair and just manner, took a whopping $3 million donation from a Political Action Committee pushing for Paxton’s exoneration before the trial even began. … The fix was in from the start,” Phelan alleged.