SAN ANTONIO — Ken Paxton's impeachment trial kicked of Tuesday Morning at 9 a.m. and gave Texans a first look at how states senators feel about the upcoming trial. Senators still can't talk about the trial thanks to a previous gag order and current jury rule. Senators did, however, give the public a good indication on where they stand as they voted on pretrial motions that could have ended Paxton's impeachment before it began.
Senators voting on multiple pre-trial motions this morning, starting with a "No-Evidence Motion for Summary Judgement to All Articles." This motion would have effectively ended the trial before it started.
Once voting started, 24 Senators voted to against the motion but six voted in favor: Lois Kolkhorst, Tan Parker, Brandon Creighton, Bob Hall, Paul Bettencourt, Donna Campbell.
A later motion titled "Motion to Dismiss Articles of Impeachment (I-VII, IX-XX)" would have dismissed the majority of the articles of impeachment. This motion was supported by the six senators above as well as Charles Perry and Charles Schwertner.
The voting suggests that at least 8 senators could be persuaded to support Paxton as the trial continues. Additionally, while, Ken Paxton's wife, Angela Paxton, is not able to vote at any point in the trial, she will also affect the vote simply by being in the chamber.
If all 31 Senators are in the chamber, a total of 21 Senators must vote to impeach Paxton in order to successfully remove him from office. With Angela Paxton siting out, and eight senators showing signs of supporting Paxton, that leaves only 22 other senators that appear to still be in favor of the impeachment. If just two additional senators support the Attorney General in the final vote, and those eight already mentioned vote consistently, Paxton would avoid being impeached.
Still, that vote could be a long way off. Both the prosecutors and defense provided opening arguments today. According to the rules set for the trial, both sides have a total of 24 hours to spend showing evidence and questioning witnesses. If each side used just four hours of that each day going forward, the trial could still have six more days of evidence alone.
The prosecution called the first of at least seven witnesses on Tuesday but there was a continuing disagreement over whether privileged information, or information affected by the attorney-client privilege, would be usable in court. Eventually Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick adjourned for the day to tackle that issue tomorrow.
The trial will resume at 9 a.m. Wednesday.