PLANO, Texas — Three days before his impeachment trial begins, suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton showed up in Plano at the Collin County GOP Labor Day Picnic event to speak to a crowd of his supporters.
Alongside Paxton, Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller, State Senator Angela Paxton and County Sheriff Jim Skinner were also scheduled to speak at the event.
Angela Paxton spoke about hot button items she tackled in the senate (border, school libraries, child gender transition) and said she will run for reelection despite those trying to silence her. And while introducing her husband to the stage, Angela Paxton said nobody has more experience having a target on his back than Ken but also “experience overcoming having a target on his back.”
After taking the stage, Ken Paxton said "he'd like to talk about what's happening with him in the next couple of weeks but cannot because of a gag order. He then started criticizing Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan.
"Let's clean house," Paxton said at the end of his speech.
The Collin County GOP’s annual Labor Day picnic serves as an unofficial kickoff to campaign season in the county but a few hundred people turned out at the ticketed event to rally behind the impeached attorney general.
“This is his backyard,” said Collin County GOP Chairman Abraham George. “We invited him and he was gracious enough to accept the invitation.”
Paxton and his wife Angela, a Texas senator, received a warm welcome at the picnic held at Bob Woodruff Park in Plano. It offered the rare chance to hear Paxton speak since his impeachment although he was limited with what he could say.
“I’d love to talk about what’s coming up to me in the next couple of weeks, I have a gag order on me so I cannot talk about that,” said Paxton.
Instead, both Paxtons spent their time on stage touching upon the other big items on the GOP agenda such as the border, school libraries and protecting children from gender transition therapy. Angela Paxton came to her husband’s defense saying no one has more experience on how to overcome having a target on their back.
Still, it was obvious how the suspended AG feels about the case against him.
“You could read I’m responsible for the JFK assassination, 9/11 and everything in between,” Paxton told the crowd.
Paxton's supporters have arranged for two buses to take to Austin on Tuesday for the beginning of Paxton’s impeachment trial.
Ironically, despite the show of support in Collin County, every elected house representative representing the area voted in favor of Paxton’s impeachment. A split that George believes could come back to bite them.
“I wouldn’t call it a rift," George said. "They did what they felt is the right thing to do. I believe it has created a problem for them, personally.”
How did we get here?
The Texas House of Representatives in May voted to impeach Paxton, a Collin County Republican who first took office in 2015. Paxton previously served as a Texas senator and representative.
Paxton's tenure has seen several legal matters and controversies involving him, including the shadow of a state securities fraud case in which he was indicted in Collin County in 2015. Paxton has yet to face trial in the indictment, though the case has not been closed.
But Paxton's impeachment centers on his alleged involvement with Austin real estate developer Nate Paul, who faces eight counts of making false statements to financial institutions.
Paul, 36, allegedly overstated his assets and understated his liabilities to fraudulently obtain loans, according to a 23-page indictment filed by federal prosecutors in June.
Paxton was not mentioned in Paul's indictment, and he does not face charges in the case.
But Paxton faces 20 articles of impeachment, including disregard of duty, obstruction of justice, constitutional bribery and misappropriation of public resources, many of which are tied to his alleged involvement with Paul.
A document dump from the Texas House impeachment managers earlier this month provided details on how Paxton allegedly abused his office to help Paul, according to the Texas Tribune.
It's unclear how long the impeachment trial will last, though it could be up to several weeks. It's also not clear if Paxton will testify.
He is listed as one of several dozen witnesses, but that doesn't mean he'll testify.
WFAA will have gavel-to-gavel coverage of the proceedings on our WFAA+ streaming app, the WFAA YouTube page, and WFAA.com, including our mobile app.
In the meantime, here's a selection of the main Paxton stories we've published, including those from our partners at the Texas Tribune and our sister stations KHOU and KVUE, all in one place. Click here for those stories.
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