Amid Texas' impeachment push against Attorney General Ken Paxton, former President Donald Trump vowed to oppose Texas state "Republicans in name only" ("RINOs") who vote to impeach Paxton.
"The RINO Speaker of the House of Texas, Dade Phelan, who is barely a Republican at all and failed the test on voter integrity, wants to impeach one of the most hard working and effective attorney generals in the United States, Ken Paxton, who just won reelection with a large number of American Patriots strongly voting for him," Trump wrote in a Truth Social post Saturday afternoon.
"You would think that any issue would have been fully adjudicated by the voters of Texas, especially when that vote was so conclusive."
Trump called the effort against Paxton a form of "election interference," vowing himself to oppose those voting for impeachment.
"I love Texas, won it twice in landslides, and watched as many other friends, including Ken Paxton, came along with me," Trump added in an ensuing Truth Social post. "Hopefully Republicans in the Texas House will agree that this is a very unfair process that should not be allowed to happen or proceed — I will fight you if it does.
"It is the Radical Left Democrats, RINOS, and criminals that never stop. Election interference! Free Ken Paxton, let them wait for the next election!"
Texas' GOP-led House of Representatives was set to hold historic impeachment proceedings against Paxton on Saturday.
The House scheduled an afternoon start for debate on whether to impeach and suspend Paxton from office over allegations of bribery, unfitness for office and abuse of public trust — just some of the accusations that have trailed Texas' top lawyer for most of his three terms.
The hearing sets up what could be a remarkably downfall for one of the GOP's most prominent legal combatants, who in 2020 asked the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn President Joe Biden's electoral defeat of Donald Trump. Only two officials in Texas' nearly 200-year history have been impeached.
Paxton, 60, has called the impeachment proceedings "political theater" based on "hearsay and gossip, parroting long-disproven claims," and an attempt to disenfranchise voters who reelected him in November.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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