His fellow Republicans, who introduced the 20 articles of impeachment, presented Mr. Paxton as a rogue public official who could not be trusted in the office he occupied. They did so in reference to Mr. Paxton’s actions, which they said in many cases amounted to crimes, and contrasted them with the integrity of those who stood up to him, many of them conservative Republicans.
“Attorney General Paxton continuously and blatantly violated laws, rules, policies and procedures,” said David Spiller, a Republican member of the investigating committee, speaking to the House on Saturday. “As a body we should not be complicit” in that behavior, he said. “Texas is better than that.”
Mr. Paxton released a statement immediately after the vote, calling the process “illegal, unethical and profoundly unjust.”
“I look forward to a quick resolution in the Texas Senate, where I have full confidence the process will be fair and just,” Mr. Paxton wrote. He has many allies in the more conservative Senate, including his wife, Angela, and personal friends.
The articles of impeachment charged Mr. Paxton with abusing his office in a range of ways, including taking what amounted to bribes, disregarding his official duty, obstructing justice in a separate securities fraud case pending against him, making false statements on official documents and abusing the public trust.
Many of the articles focused on Mr. Paxton’s purported use of his office to benefit a particular donor, Nate Paul, a real estate investor in Austin who has given $25,000 in political contributions to Mr. Paxton. Those included using the office to intervene in a legal dispute that Mr. Paul was having with a nonprofit, and hiring a lawyer on contract to work for the attorney general’s office, at Mr. Paul’s request and over the objections of senior staff members at the attorney general’s office, in order to look into a federal inquiry of Mr. Paul.
Mr. Paul also provided other benefits to Mr. Paxton, the articles of impeachment said, including giving a job to a woman described during the impeachment proceedings as Mr. Paxton’s “mistress,” and providing expensive home renovations, including countertops valued at around $20,000.