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Good morning,
Here is the Texas Minute for Wednesday, September 6, 2023.
– Brandon Waltens
Paxton Impeachment Trial Moves Forward in Texas SenateThe Senate impeachment trial of Attorney General Ken Paxton will go forward, after senators voted down motions to dismiss on the first day [[link removed]].
The trial began promptly, with Lt. Gov Dan Patrick—who serves as the presiding officer for the proceedings—swearing in members individually with the Sam Houston Bible. Patrick said the historic Bible was used due to the “significant and serious occasion.”
The first order of business was a series of votes on 24 pre-trial motions, including 16 motions to dismiss. Those efforts, however, were unsuccessful.
The most notable motion would dismiss charges based on the state’s prior term doctrine, which precludes impeachment charges for allegations known to the public before their election. That vote failed on a vote of 22-8, with 10 Republicans siding with Democrats to let the trial continue.
A motion to exclude evidence collected outside of the law met the same fate, failing 22-8 with the same 10 Republicans joining Democrats.
As the trial begins, each side will have 27 hours total to present or defend their case, including up to 24 hours of witness testimony.
A striking moment [[link removed]] came in opening arguments when State Rep. Andrew Murr acknowledged accusations from Paxton that many of the House impeachment articles do not allege actual crimes.
“Wrongs justifying impeachment don't have to be crimes. Wrongs justifying impeachment are broader than that because they have the purpose of protecting the state, not punishing the offender. Mr. Paxton should be removed from office because he failed to protect the state and instead used the power of elected office for his own benefit. And this was wrong,” said Murr.
Tony Buzbee, one of the lead attorneys defending Paxton, took his opportunity to call the charges “a tale of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”
“What has been attempted here hasn't happened in our state in 100 years,” said Buzbee. “This scheme was rushed. It was secret. It was poorly planned and was totally unsupported by evidence.”
He also took shots at House Speaker Dade Phelan for seemingly retaliatory actions after Paxton accused him of being intoxicated while presiding over the House.
Chip Roy Doubles Down on Defunding DHS Over Border PoliciesU.S. Rep. Chip Roy has doubled down on his effort to withhold funding from President Biden’s Department of Homeland Security because it failed to act on the open U.S.-Mexico border problem. Soli Rice has the details [[link removed]].
When the agency’s funding expires this fall, Roy wants the U.S. House to invoke its “power of the purse” to withhold all funding until the border crisis is addressed.
“‘We can’t do anything until next election cycle’ is not good enough, period. Time for action,” said Roy.
Currently, the House and the Senate are at odds regarding how lawmakers should fund federal agencies in both the short and long term. On September 30, the federal government will shut down if a funding bill isn’t passed.
Drug Smuggler Caught with $650k in Cocaine Near Illegal Alien Housing DevelopmentLiberty County law enforcement captured and detained a drug smuggler armed with a handgun and carrying an estimated $650,000 worth of cocaine in a spare tire.
Sydnie Henry reports [[link removed]] that the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office is being “tight-lipped” about the investigation that began as a traffic stop.
According to the Bluebonnet News, “A Ford Raptor driven by a Hispanic male was stopped for traffic violations by the Criminal Interdiction Unit for the Liberty County Sheriff’s Office at the intersection of SH 146 and SH 105 in Moss Hill.”
Todd Bensman, a senior fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, highlighted that this stop occurred “In Liberty County Texas, 20 minutes drive from Colony Ridge, which is said to be the largest illegal immigrant community in America where law enforcement tells me Mexican drug cartels operate with relative impunity.”
Notably, “Colony Ridge Communities”—the land development company responsible for providing loans for the construction of one of the largest illegal alien settlements in America—is funded by one of Gov. Greg Abbott’s major donors. In the past, the development has been associated [[link removed]] with the Gulf and Sinaloa cartels.
Mom Teaches Parents To Audit School Libraries for Explicit BooksA Texas mom is teaching parents how to identify sexually explicit books that need to be removed from schools, as a new law to prohibit smut in students’ libraries and classrooms is pending in court. Erin Anderson has the report [[link removed]].
Christin Bentley is presenting workshops across the state explaining “How to Audit School Libraries for Sexually Explicit, Pervasively Vulgar, and Educationally Unsuitable Materials.”
Bentley is a parent and pro-family education advocate who serves on the Texas GOP’s State Republican Executive Committee.
As chair of the SREC’s Stop Sexualizing Texas Kids legislative committee, Bentley led a successful grassroots effort supporting House Bill 900, which prohibits sexually explicit materials in Texas schools. Ted Cruz Gets Another Dem Opponent
Senator Ted Cruz has another Democrat opponent: Former Nueces County District Attorney Mark Gonzalez. Emily Medeiros has the story. [[link removed]]
This comes just one day after Gonzalez stepped down from his position. He was facing a civil lawsuit seeking to have him removed from office with plaintiffs citing "incompetency and official misconduct.”
Gonzales joins Democrats Collin Alred and Roland Gutierrez in the race for the party’s nomination.
🔒 Donate to Texas Scorecard 🔒 [[link removed]] Number of the Day
106 Years
The number of years since the last Senate impeachment trial in Texas of a statewide official.
[Source: author calculation]
Quote-Unquote
"I would give no thought of what the world might say of me, if I could only transmit to posterity the reputation of an honest man."
– Sam Houston
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