AUSTIN, Texas — With the impeachment trial of suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton starting on Tuesday, a confidential list of witnesses obtained by The Dallas Morning News could shine a light on who's expected to take the stand.
More than a hundred people could testify, including whistleblowers, political rivals and even records custodians from retail stores like Home Depot and Lowe's.
Paxton was impeached by the Texas House back in May. In the twenty articles, he's accused of bribery, misusing his office to benefit a friend and political donor and obstruction of justice. He's denied all wrongdoing and his attorneys have filed motions to dismiss all twenty articles.
"It may be that these individual moments, these individual cases end up dismissing a lot of the charges because there are asks from the attorney general's attorneys who want to say that a lot of these charges are incorrect or there's not enough evidence to support them, and they're asking the Senate to kick them out," said KHOU 11 political analyst and University of Houston political science professor Brandon Rottinghaus.
Paxton had his wife, Senator Angela Paxton, on the witness list, but she was removed from an amended list given to senators earlier this week, according to The Dallas Morning News.
It would take a simple majority vote of senators, or 16 of the 30, to dismiss each article of impeachment. That vote will take place before opening statements begin on Tuesday.
The attorney general is currently suspended without pay.