Texas Senate to set rules for suspended attorney general Ken Paxton's impeachment trial

AUSTIN, Texas (KTRK) -- We learn the rules for the impeachment trial for suspended Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday. But there is also movement in his criminal trial.

Paxton is fighting for his elected job and his freedom. Both cases against him are moving closer to trial.

He first faced criminal charges in 2015. For close to eight years, that case has languished in court.

Paxton faces two first-degree felony counts of securities fraud and one felony count of failing to register as an investment advisor representative.

Despite Paxton's appeal to move the trial to Collin County, the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals moved the case once again to Harris County and will be in the 185th District Court under a new judge, Andrea Beall, who was elected in 2022.

We can expect one of the first orders of business will be paying the special prosecutors, who have not received payment since 2016.

RELATED: What to know about Texas' extraordinary move to impeach GOP Attorney General Ken Paxton

We have a breakdown of how impeachment works in Texas, and how Paxton came to face the prospect of becoming the third official to be impeached in the state's nearly 200-year history.

One of those attorneys, Brian Wice, sent ABC13 a statement that read, "Once Judge Beall is in receipt of the Court's opinion, I would expect that she will set these matters for a status conference in the not-too-distant future."

Also in the not-too-distant future, we will know the rules for Paxton's impeachment trial in the Texas Senate.

ABC13 has learned the Senate will convene Tuesday, and during the session, the rules committee will present its work which the majority of the Senate must approve.

Those rules, we have learned, will include time limits for questioning witnesses and will likely include a trial start date.

We are also told that the Senate wants to move the trial to a good pace and may take roughly two weeks.

Paxton was suspended from his job as attorney general after the House impeached him. He also faces a federal investigation into bribery and abuse of office allegations.

Late Monday afternoon, Paxton's wife, State Senator Angela Paxton, released a statement indicating she will not recuse herself as part of the trial, citing the Texas Constitution.

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