All Paxton pretrial impeachment motions fail at trial begins

(The Center Square) – The first day of the impeachment trial Tuesday of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton began with the majority of Republicans voting with Democrats to defeat all pretrial motions filed by Paxton’s legal team, including throwing out the articles of impeachment.

As a result, all 20 articles of impeachment will be tried.

The morning began with state Supreme Court Justice Nathan Hecht swearing in Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick and his counsel, Justice Lana Myers. Next, Patrick swore in each of the 30 senators individually excluding Sen. Angela Paxton, the wife of Paxton. She is participating in the trial but is prohibited from voting, and was not sworn in.

Thirty senators came up to a podium, held up their right hand and repeated an oath that they swore to impartially try Paxton.

Patrick listed the names of the prosecuting attorneys, House managers and their staff, as well as counsel representing Paxton. The prosecuting team is more than double that of the defense.

Patrick said Paxton cannot be compelled to testify during the trial.

Senators then began voting on pretrial motions. A majority of votes, 16, is required for a motion to pass or fail. Each senator wrote their answer "yea" or "nay," on a piece of paper. Two bailiffs collected them, handed them to the Senate clerk who then read their votes. Patrick then called on each senator, who stood and verbally affirmed their vote.

All Democrats, and the majority of Republicans, rejected motions filed by Paxton’s attorneys.

Motion 22, no evidence summary judgement, to throw out the articles of impeachment failed by a vote of 24-6.

The six Republicans who voted in support of Paxton’s motion were Sens. Louis Kolkhorst, Paul Bettencourt, Brandon Creighton, Bob Hall, Tan Parker, and Donna Campbell.

A motion filed by Paxton’s team to exclude evidence presented prior to Paxton being sworn into office failed by a vote of 22-8, with the majority of Republicans voting with Democrats.

The eight who voted to support Paxton’s motion were Kolkhorst, Bettencourt, Creighton, Hall, Parker, Campbell, and Sens. Charles Schwertner and Charles Perry.

Motion 8 to throw out 19 articles of impeachment also failed by a vote of 22-8.

The same was true for votes on each motion filed by Paxton’s attorneys: the majority of Republicans voted with Democrats to defeat them. The votes were 24 to 6 or 22 to 8, with an outlying vote of 23 to 7.

The same Republican senators voted along the same lines for each of the motions, with six to eight Republicans consistently voting in support of Paxton’s motions and the majority voting with Democrats.

The motions are published on the Senate Court of Impeachment website.

This story is developing.