LIVE: Texas lawyer talks about defending Ken Paxton in upcoming impeachment trial

AUSTIN (KXAN) — A prominent lawyer from Houston will discuss why he will defend suspended Attorney General Ken Paxton during his upcoming impeachment trial in the Texas Senate.

Attorney Tony Buzbee will hold a news conference Wednesday afternoon, where he promised in a social media post that "you will find what we have to say very informative." He said this will happen at the Austin headquarters for the Republican Party of Texas at 2 p.m. KXAN will offer a live stream of Buzbee's remarks in this story and on the station's Facebook page.

"I will provide further details at that time, which will include our hopes that the process in the Texas Senate will be fair, reasoned and transparent," Buzbee wrote in another post.

Paxton is temporarily suspended from his elected office until the outcome of the Senate impeachment trial is known. He will not receive pay from the state for the time being either, according to the Texas comptroller's office.

The Texas House of Representatives voted to impeach the third-term Republican on May 27 after an ethics committee brought forward 20 articles of impeachment against him. These stem from a two-month investigation that began after Paxton asked to use state funds to settle a $3.3 million whistleblower lawsuit filed by four former employees who accused him of wrongdoing.

The Texas Senate agreed to hold the impeachment trial no later than Aug. 28. A special bipartisan committee comprised of seven members are now working to develop the rules of the trial, and they're expected to present those to the full chamber during a June 20 meeting.

During a talk about the end of the regular legislative session, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said he will preside over the trial and insisted it would be "fair," as the senators will effectively act as the jury.

"Look at me like a judge before a case and look at our senators like that. Be respectful of their space and time," Patrick said on May 30. "This is very serious. These are very serious people, and the Senate is going to do our job in a professional way."

On Tuesday afternoon, Patrick declined to comment on whether Sen. Angela Paxton should recuse herself from her husband's impeachment trial — instead choosing to focus his remarks on the impasse over how to lower property taxes. At a separate bill-signing event a couple of hours later, Gov. Greg Abbott responded to a similar question by saying, "That's for her to decide."

The House already named seven Republicans and five Democrats to serve as impeachment managers during the upcoming trial. This group announced during a news conference on June 1 that they're bringing on two well-known criminal defense attorneys, Dick DeGuerin and Rusty Hardin, to effectively serve as prosecutors in these proceedings. The lawyers said the Senate now needs to adopt rules that will make the trial public, adding it should be a fair and transparent process focused on facts and not politics.

Who is Tony Buzbee?

In addition to taking on Paxton as a client, Buzbee is no stranger to getting involved in high-profile cases. He works as a personal injury attorney and owns the Buzbee Law Firm in Houston.

Last year he represented two dozen women who accused Deshaun Watson, the NFL quarterback, of sexual assault or harassment. At the time, the athlete was represented by Hardin, who will now be Buzbee’s adversary in the Paxton impeachment trial.

Buzbee also secured a settlement last year on behalf of a family whose loved one died during the 2021 crowd crush at an Astroworld concert in Houston. The initial lawsuit named rapper Travis Scott, Live Nation and Apple among others. At that time, the family sought $750 million in damages, though Buzbee later said the sum of the final settlement would remain "confidential."

According to a profile published by The Texas Tribune, Buzbee previously defended former Texas Gov. Rick Perry against abuse-of-office charges in Travis County that eventually got thrown out by the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals.

Buzbee also ran for Houston mayor in 2019, where he made it to a runoff election and ultimately lost by about 12 percentage points.