Donald Trump takes credit for ‘saving’ Ken Paxton from impeachment conviction

Former President Donald Trump attempted to take credit on Monday for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s acquittal in the state Senate on 16 articles of impeachment.

Trump claimed he had “saved” Paxton, a Republican, from being convicted of allegedly abusing his power to help real estate developer Nate Paul on Saturday. Paxton was allowed to return to the office immediately and finish out his third term after being suspended without pay since late May.

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“Yes, it is true that my intervention through TRUTH SOCIAL saved Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton from going down at the hands of Democrats and some Republicans, headed by PAUL RINO (Ryan), Karl Rove, and others, almost all of whom came back to reason when confronted with the facts,” Trump posted to Truth Social.

“Ken has been a great A.G., and now he can go back to work for the wonderful people of Texas. It was my honor to have helped correct this injustice!” he added.

Neither Rove nor Ryan were directly involved in Paxton’s impeachment trial, but Rove predicted the end of Paxton’s time as attorney general last month in an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal. Trump has used the social media platform multiple times since Paxton’s impeachment to rail against the trial.

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Paxton was impeached by the House on 20 articles of impeachment, and the Senate chose to move forward on 16 articles. He had been accused of bribery, abuse of power, and retaliation against whistleblowers.

The 31-person Senate comprises 12 Democrats and 19 Republicans, including state Sen. Angela Paxton, the attorney general’s wife, who was not allowed to vote on any of the pretrial motions or articles, which made it harder for the Senate to rally the 21 votes necessary to convict on each charge.