Assclown Alert: Dealing in over-the-top words with Ken Paxton attorney Tony Buzbee

In a flurry of purple prose, Buzbee called Paxton's coming impeachment trial an 'evil, illegal, and unprecedented weaponization of state power.'

click to enlarge The Texas Senate is expected to begin Ken Paxton's impeachment trial Sept. 5. - Shutterstock / CrackerClips Stock Media
Shutterstock / CrackerClips Stock Media
The Texas Senate is expected to begin Ken Paxton's impeachment trial Sept. 5.

Assclown Alert is a column of opinion, analysis and snark.

Tony Buzbee, lead attorney for suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, has a way with words — as evidenced by his recent statement explaining his client's decision not to testify in his upcoming Senate impeachment trial.

"We will not bow to their evil, illegal, and unprecedented weaponization of state power in the Senate chamber," Buzbee said of the Texas House, which voted in May to impeach Paxton.

Talk about laying it on thick.

Most of the 20 articles of impeachment considered by the House related to allegations from Paxton's own former deputies that he abused his office to do favors to real estate developer Nate Paul, a pal and major campaign donor. The following month, federal prosecutors charged Paul with eight counts of making false statements to financial institutions.

As an aside, Paxton has also been under indictment for years for felony state securities fraud charges and is the subject of a federal investigation brought on by the whistleblowers from his office. Of course, both he and Paul have denied any wrongdoing.

Despite the fact that 60 members of Paxton's own party in the House found the allegations of abuse of office compelling enough to vote against him, and despite the fact that Paxton and his defense have more than three months to prepare for the Senate trial, scheduled for Sept. 5, Buzbee still proclaimed the process a sham. Using the purplest of prose, naturally.

"The House has ignored precedent, denied him an opportunity to prepare his defense, and now wants to ambush him on the floor of the Senate," Buzbee said. "They had the opportunity to have Attorney General Paxton testify during their sham investigation but refused to do so."

We'll see after the Senate trial whether Buzbee's pronouncement reads like the flashy prose of a savvy trial lawyer or the ramblings of an assclown. Our money's on the latter.

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Sanford Nowlin

Sanford Nowlin is editor-in-chief of the San Antonio Current.

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