Ken Paxton vows not to testify at his September impeachment trial

An attorney for suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton said Monday the Republican will not testify during his impeachment trial scheduled to start on Sept. 5.

In a statement released late Monday, Tony Buzbee, one of Paxton’s attorneys, bashed once again the Texas House’s move to impeach Paxton in late May, calling the 20 articles of impeachment against him “meritless.”

“That is why Attorney General Paxton will not dignify the illegal House action by testifying,” Buzbee said. “We will not bow to their evil, illegal, and unprecedented weaponization of state power in the Senate chamber.”

Paxton’s decision to not testify is a clear defiance of the impeachment trial rules the Texas Senate adopted last month.

Under a resolution unanimously adopted by that chamber, Paxton is “ordered to appear in person and by counsel at or before 9 a.m. on September 5, 2023, in the City of Austin, State of Texas, at the Chamber of the Texas Senate, to answer the said charges of impeachment.”