Sen. Charles Perry speaks out on Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial

LUBBOCK, Texas (KCBD) - Ken Paxton has resumed his position as the attorney general, but has yet to make a public statement about the investigation or the trial that acquitted him.

However, Lubbock Sen. Charles Perry spoke out on why he voted against every corruption charge.

The vote to acquit Paxton came after eight days’ worth of testimony in the Capitol and 16 articles of impeachment that alleged corruption and bribery. Perry attributes that acquittal to a lack of evidence and lack of preparation by the house.

“If you would have focused in on the ones that had the best chance of being proven at the standard people could get behind, well that probably happened, it would have been a different story,” Perry said.

Perry says that was a problem from the start of Ken Paxton’s impeachment in the house, ultimately leading to the senate throwing out four of its 20 charges against the attorney general. He says the house managers did not present enough evidence that Paxton abused his position in office to benefit a political donor.

“There was a lot of circumstantial evidence and a lot of innuendo position and the evidence itself may have pointed that something did happen, but it really didn’t connect the dots with certainty it did happen,” said Perry.

Perry says although the house had every right to pursue those charges, it was evident Paxton’s defense team did the leg work to come better-prepared for this trial.

“They truly provided evidence that it was evident the house board got a report and did an investigation,” Perry said. “It didn’t appear they went a whole lot further than that.”

When asked about the numerous other indictments and investigators that Paxton is facing, Perry said none of that factored into the Senate’s vote.

“Majority of the house, they are just tired of the drama associated with this guy, but that’s not the standard we use to convict by. If the standard had been where there is smoke, there is fire, I think slam dunk,” Sen. Perry said.

After the Senate rendered its verdict, the Republican House managers accused the Senate’s GOP majority of making a vote based entirely on politics instead of the evidence. Governor Abbott announced his satisfaction with the senate decision and welcomed Paxton back into office saying they would continue to fight the Biden administration together.

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