DALLAS — UPDATE | 4:10 p.m., August 3, 2023: To comply with the gag order established by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, the Paxton campaign has now removed questionable language from a donation link at KenPaxton.com that referred to the impeachment trial as a "kangaroo court."
Suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton is fundraising off his upcoming impeachment trial and characterizing the rare political event in a way that appears to be a direct violation of the gag order established by Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick last month.
In a fundraising email sent late Tuesday afternoon, Paxton is asking for contributions while framing next month’s trial as “illegal”.
“By preceding [sic] with this illegal impeachment scheme to overturn a decision from Texas voters just a few short months ago, the corrupt politicians in the Texas House [of Representatives] are demonstrating that blind loyalty to Speaker Dade Phelan is more important that upholding their oath of office,” the fundraising email states.
It was sent from Ken Paxton’s website – kenpaxton.com.
But Lt. Gov. Patrick has condemned Paxton’s own attorneys for using such language to describe the impeachment trial.
According to Patrick’s gag order established on July 17, anyone who is “party to the trial of impeachment… shall not furnish any statement or information… [that] will have a substantial likelihood of materially prejudicing the trial of impeachment.”
Patrick’s order went on to make clear what that means by offering examples of “inflammatory and prejudicial statements” made by both sides.
Patrick criticized a Paxton attorney who “used inflammatory and prejudicial language by describing the impeachment as a ‘sham engineered by someone with a personal vendetta’ and went on to call the impeachment “evil” and “illegal” and the articles of impeachment “bologna.”
Patrick also chastised attorneys for the House Board of Managers who said at a news conference that Paxton was a “crook” and “the allegations will blow your mind.”
In addition to the email, another fundraising link with similar language remains active through the 'Donate' tab on Paxton’s website.
The link goes to a fundraising page stating that “RINOS and far-left radicals have established a kangaroo court in the Texas legislature”. The donation page tells users they can make automatic payments to Paxton on August 15.
Paxton’s attorney for the upcoming impeachment trial said his client is doing nothing wrong.
“Attorney General Paxton and his campaign committee are in full compliance with all orders from the senate,” Tony Buzbee, a Paxton attorney, said in a statement to WFAA.
Patrick’s office did not immediately respond to questions about whether Paxton’s characterization of the impeachment as “illegal” and “a kangaroo court” violates the gag order for prejudicial and inflammatory language.
In May, the Texas House of Representatives impeached Paxton on 20 counts, alleging a pattern of corruption and abuse of office since he was first elected as attorney general.
Paxton denies the 20 charges and said they are easily disproven.
Still, the rare impeachment resulted in him being suspended from office until the outcome of a trial in the Texas Senate, which begins Sept. 5.