Paxton critics pile on, calling impeachment trial rigged

It has been almost a week since the Texas Senate voted to acquit Attorney General Ken Paxton in his impeachment trial — and the recriminations are still flying among Republicans. Critics of the verdict, including House Speaker Dade Phelan, are continuing to accuse Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick of rigging the trial, while Patrick is fiercely pushing back. “For the armchair legal strategists’ opinion on what should have been done differently, I’d remind them there is nothing else that could have been done — the fix was in from the start,” Phelan said in an op-ed he wrote for his hometown newspaper published Friday afternoon.