With the House and Senate set to reconvene on Monday for the third special legislative session, Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick has issued his most scathing criticism of the House Impeachment Managers yet.
Since the acquittal of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on all of the House’s impeachment articles, many of the House Managers have maintained that their evidence and testimony are “overwhelming” and blamed partisanship in the Senate for the decision in Paxton’s favor.
Patrick has vehemently denied these accusations. He said in his latest statement, “The House Managers’ shoddy work, poorly constructed and vaguely written articles, poor procedures, and shortcuts on fairness and due process resulted in a presentation before the Senate that collapsed like a house of cards.”
“[T]he majority of the jury didn’t buy it,” said Patrick. “All but one Democrat voted to acquit on at least one article of impeachment and Article 4 failed 28 to 2. Now the managers are having a juvenile meltdown. Desperate for vindication, they claim a vast right-wing conspiracy enveloped the Senate. It’s embarrassing.”
Patrick claimed House Managers now want a mulligan (an extra stroke in golf after a poor shot, not counted on the scorecard), but “that’s not how it works and they know it.”
He laid blame specifically on House Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont) and the House Managers for “hastily and ill-advisedly” concocting and debating the impeachment articles.
The House Managers performed like a tee-ball player tripping over their shoelaces. They mumbled and bumbled, complaining about the rules they and their legal team had agreed to play by, fumbled the resting of their case, and even tried to put one of their own attorneys on the stand to testify.
Patrick said the only way for the Managers to recover from this “debacle” is to “honor the verdict of the jury because agree or disagree, that’s what we do in America.”
None of the House Managers responded to Texas Scorecard’s request for comment before publication.
