(Houston) The influential Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, Joe Biden’s great enemy in the courts, escaped impeachment on Saturday after a vote in his state’s Senate.
This 60-year-old ultraconservative, close to former President Donald Trump, is divided in his own camp, which made the outcome of these votes very uncertain.
Elected officials in the Texas lower house voted overwhelmingly in favor of his impeachment in May. But this had to be validated by the Senate, which preferred to acquit him.
Elected in 2014 at the head of the Texas judicial system, he has since been the subject of an indictment for financial fraud, which remains pending. This did not prevent him from being re-elected in 2018, then in 2022.
In this position, he filed 50 complaints against the administration of Democratic President Joe Biden, contesting, among other things, its migration, tax and environmental policies.
In 2020, members of his team alerted him to his alleged abuse of power.
After being fired, these “whistleblowers” filed a complaint for unfair dismissal. Earlier this year, Ken Paxton reached a deal to end their lawsuits in exchange for $3.3 million.
He asked Texas to pay the bill, which justified the opening of a parliamentary investigation.