Texas’ Republican-run House of Representatives has voted to impeach state Attorney General Ken Paxton, a Republican, who is accused of bribery and abuse of public trust.
Mr Paxton, an ally of former President Donald Trump, is now suspended from office pending a trial in the Senate.
A two-thirds vote in the upper chamber – where Republicans also dominate – is required to permanently expel him.
Mr Paxton, aged 60, denies all the accusations against him.
Responding to a 121-23 vote in the House on Saturday, Mr Paxton said in a statement: “The ugly spectacle in the Texas House today confirmed the outrageous impeachment plot against me was never meant to be fair or just.
“It was a politically motivated sham from the beginning.”
The impeachment vote was on 20 articles, which also include accusations of improperly aiding a wealthy political donor and conducting a sham investigation against whistleblowers.
The result demonstrates a very public split between Texas Republicans.
“Attorney General Paxton continuously and blatantly violated laws, rules, policies and procedures,” House Republican David Spiller said.
“Today is a very grim and difficult day for this House and for the state of Texas,” he added.
But John Smithee, another Texas House Republican, opposed the impeachment, arguing that the attorney general had not been given the chance to properly respond to the allegations against him.
“It’s what I call the hang him now and judge him later policy,” Mr Smithee said.
Meanwhile, Mr Trump – who hopes to win a Republican nomination for the 2024 election – backed Mr Paxton.
Shortly before the vote, he wrote “free Ken Paxton” in a post on social media.
Source: BBC
