Politics
WATCH: AG Ken Paxton Explains How ‘Secret’ Texas Court Blocked Voter Fraud Prosecutions
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton made a shocking claim during his recent appearance with Tucker Carlson, telling viewers how a nondescript local court threw out hundreds of cases his office was prosecuting for voter fraud.
AG Paxton, fresh off a vindicating impeachment vote that found him innocent on corruption charges, told Carlson how the state’s Court of Criminal Appeals dismissed over 900 cases of voter fraud brought by Paxton, calling his prosecution a violation of constitutional rights and claiming he held no jurisdiction despite being the state’s top attorney.
“We were fully busy prosecuting voter fraud and suddenly the Court of Criminal Appeals – all Republicans – said nope, it’s unconstitutional for the attorney general to be in court because these are the executive branch. That was their reasoning,” Paxton stated. “They said that was a ‘judicial’ function so I could no longer be in court.”
The conclusion made no sense, Paxton continued, because every attorney general in the country is part of their state’s executive branch. By denying an attorney general the right to prosecute criminal matters, the office is effectively devoid of its ability to do anything.
“We prosecuted voter fraud and we had plenty of it, but now there’s no prosecution,” he added.
WATCH:
Ken Paxton’s office was handling 900 cases of voter fraud and Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan blocked them all. pic.twitter.com/Cf3ThelfFM
— Phenomenology (@BerryRazi) September 21, 2023
The Republican attorney added that the Texas voting system is now ripe with voter fraud because mail-in balloting does not require voter ID as other forms of voting do.
“When you change it to mailing it out to everybody … We have no idea who’s voting … That’s the system that they like, because we can’t prove voter fraud if we set up a system that’s completely open,” said Paxton.
WATCH:
Ken Paxton on voter fraud: "When you change it to mailing it out to everybody … We have no idea who's voting … That's the system that they like, because we can't prove voter fraud if we set up a system that's completely open." pic.twitter.com/Gzy9bIGs3X
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) September 21, 2023
Paxton, one of the most prominent conservatives in Texas politics, has been roadblocked by more moderate, establishment Republicans like Karl Rove who openly pushed for his impeachment as they attempted to steer the state GOP back toward Bush-era Republicanism. By quashing his ability to prosecute voter fraud, Paxton added, legacy Republicans on the Court of Criminal Appeals are essentially trying to set him up for defeat and are comfortable with voter fraud continuing on his watch.
During his impeachment, moderate Republicans in control of the House completed a secret, monthslong investigation of Paxton and went public to allege he pressured competitors of a real estate developer who contributed to his political campaign. Paxton denied the allegations and benefited from a full-throated defense by former President Donald Trump who said he saved the attorney general from “going down” in a politically-motivated sham trial.