From Texas House Member Steve Toth: 

“I went to Austin to stop our state and nation from going woke/broke; and out of nowhere, we were suddenly voting on the impeachment of our conservative Attorney General, Ken Paxton.

I voted against impeachment. It was based on hearsay and blatantly false accusations.

It violated the legal Forgiveness Doctrine because the allegations were known before the [2022] election; and despite that, voters overwhelmingly chose to keep Paxton in office for another term.

Based on the information we were given, the impeachment proceeding also violated Government Code 301.022.

It was the fastest rush to impeachment in the history of the state.

Within 48 hrs. of receiving the articles of impeachment and just 3 days after any findings of the House General Investigating Committee were made available to the full House, we were required to vote on articles of impeachment.

I voted against this miscarriage of justice.

“Over such an important decision, I will not delegate my duty to honestly evaluate the evidence from the General Investigating Committee’s staff, most of whom are registered Democrats. I voted against impeachment.”

CONSIDER THE FOLLOWING:

1. We were given a transcript of a report from committee staff with their summary of interviews of witnesses to the allegations.

2. It was not clear if all the witnesses were eyewitnesses.

3. None of these witnesses made statements under oath.

4. No witness affirmation statements were signed for the testimony made to the committee – a standard we require of public committee hearings in the Texas House.

5. The House members were asked to impeach based on hearsay.

6. The House members were told that it was their job to vote this matter over to the Senate so that they could uncover the evidence.

7. We were told that we didn’t need to hear from TAG Paxton nor his staff to consider both sides of the story.

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NOTES TAKEN BY DONNA GARNER FROM MICHAEL BERRY’S PODCASTS ON 5.30.23

*Besides being a very popular and long-running radio broadcaster since 2005, Michael Berry is a lawyer – has both J. D. and M. L. degrees.

5.30.23 -- “The Michael Berry Podcast – Impeachment of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton”

Gov. Abbott is the head of the executive branch.

The Speaker of the House is Dade Phelan. The Texas House is the lower chamber and is similar to a grand jury [decides whether there is enough compelling evidence to send a person to trial].

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick presides over the Senate which is the upper chamber. Lt. Gov. Patrick will preside over the impeachment trial of TAG Paxton.

TEXAS HOUSE

The Texas House has a majority of 85 Republicans to 64 Democrats.

Twenty articles of impeachment were laid out in the Texas House. Paxton’s lawyer was prohibited from speaking. Instead, the presentation to the House members was done by five former assistant DA’s. Four of the five are Democrats.

Nineteen out of the twenty articles of impeachment were nonsensical. The one article that is the real reason for the impeachment is the $3.3 M that Paxton requested as a taxpayer-funded settlement for the wrongful termination of the whistleblower.

*To see how each House member voted to impeach, please go to: https://www.texastribune.org/2023/05/27/ken-paxton-texas-house-impeachment-vote/
121 to impeach – 23 not to impeach
2 present but not voting
3 absent

The Freedom Caucus in the House is the only group who voted not to impeach TAG Paxton.

TEXAS SENATE

In order to convict and impeach TAG Paxton, it takes a 2/3 vote (or 21 members) of Texas Senate.

To impeach TAG Paxton, it would take 12 Democrats in the Texas Senate plus 9 out of 19 Republican Senators to have a majority.

BUSH MACHINE

TAG Paxton has over a 90% success rate in suing the Biden administration; he is more successful than any other TAG in the entire country.

TAG Paxton beat George P. Bush in the 2022 primary; and the Bush Machine [which includes Karl Rove] envisioned George P. becoming the TAG, the Governor, and eventually the President of the United States.

George P. Bush is Jeb Bush’s son, Pres. George W. Bush’s nephew, and Pres. George H. Bush’s grandson.

Back in 2020, TAG Paxton led the efforts on border security and election integrity. The Bush Machine has never forgiven Paxton.

Texas Speaker Dade Phelan is a Democrat in Republican clothing. Phelan was elected in one little district in South Texas. Gov. Abbott, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, and TAG Ken Paxton were elected statewide.

Phelan is supported by big donors; Trump has called him a RINO; now Phelan is a “drunk” RINO after his behavior in front of the Texas House last month.

Phelan has said he will not let the issues of school choice, property taxes, and border security move forward in Special Session.

Phelan needs the Dems to vote with him. He led the effort to kick out TX House Member Bryan Slaton (Rep.) because of sexual misconduct, yet there are Dems in the House who misbehave and defy the rules which list “acting inappropriately, neglect of duty, incompetency, habitual drunkenness.”

In fact, the House needs to impeach Phelan and his drunkenness instead of TAG Paxton.

This Texas Senate impeachment trial has the potential to tear the entire Republican Party in two and destroy the will of the people who elected a majority of Republicans statewide.

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5.30.23 -- “Here's The Real Reason Why These RINOs Are Impeaching Ken Paxton” --
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/139-the-michael-berry-show-27764850/episode/heres-the-real-reason-why-these-116180060/

5.30.23 -- “The Twenty Articles Of Impeachment Against Ken Paxton Are Laughable” -- 9 minute podcast --
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/139-the-michael-berry-show-27764850/episode/the-twenty-articles-of-impeachment-against-116180058/

5.30.23 -- “Texas Speaker, Dade Phelan, Is A Democrat In Republican Clothing” – 7 minute podcast --
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/139-the-michael-berry-show-27764850/episode/texas-speaker-dade-phelan-is-a-116180056/

5.30.23 -- “Ken Paxton's Crime Was Beating The Establishment's Candidate In The Primary” – 8 minutes --
https://www.iheart.com/podcast/139-the-michael-berry-show-27764850/episode/ken-paxtons-crime-was-beating-the-116180059/