Members, please take your seats. Members, now that we are moving forward based on the pretrial motions, i would like to comment on the key rules and procedures for the trial so we are totally transparent for the public and everyone knows what is about to happen. First, the Texas Constitution and the law or require the senate to receive articles of impeachment preferred by the house of representatives and tried in the senate. To the general public, the articles of impeachment are the charges brought by the house. The senate is committed to conducting a fair and impartial trial for eligible senators who will serve as jurors. We will start each day at 9 00 a. M. And continue until at least 6 00, possibly a bit later. Of course, today we started on tuesday because of the holiday, but next week will be monday through friday and potentially to saturday of next week. We will not do saturday this week. We will break probably every 90 minutes or so for the jurors and the parties to stretch. We will do it for 20 minutes and then come back. We will break for lunch at about 12 15 most days for 45 minutes until 1 00. We will come back for the afternoon. I would like to place a couple of things on the record officially. The parties have agreed to provide the court and opposing party with 24 hours of advanced notice on witnesses. They plan to call to testify, is that correct . Thank you. Additionally the party said they would agree to the admissibility of certain exhibits . Is that correct . [indiscernible] yes . [indiscernible] we cannot hear. Thank you, your honor. I apologize. Start from the beginning. Screwing up on the technology. This past wednesday it was suggested the sides get together and read what would be preadmitted. We thought that was a good idea and we assumed that is what was going to happen. On thursday we were asked what the opposition was about their exhibits, and we said we would agree to preadmitted all exhibits. Put in anything they wanted that was on their witness list and we would not object. They came back and said, is that a precondition . I said no, that is our position. We will not object to any of your exhibits. What is your position . We will get back to you. We didnt hear. They didnt get back. Finally they wrote back and said we will not agree to preadmitted any of your exhibits. That means what the court said earlier by the way, do i say court . What do i say . I can handle mr. President , but i dont know what to refer to this facility. Court is fine. Any time they seek to introduce an exhibit it will, and objected to. When we seek to introduce an exhibit there may be continued objections, which will slow it down. I welcome the courts observation that if that starts taking away somebodys time unfairly the court has the ability to acknowledge that. Im simply asking at this stage, no action on the part of the court, but the awareness is we thought we were playing fair what they got in here and representing to you. These guys would not negotiate with us. They wouldnt even talk about we would agree to some and not to others. I stand up in the senate of privilege and i just want the court to know. No, we do not have an agreement on preadmission. Any response . [indiscernible] we will take a look at them and object if it is appropriate. If it is not appropriate we will not object. We will do it like we are supposed to. Thank you. I have heard you both. Members, if you are watching at home, also know that you may attend in person. Go to texassenate. Gov for guidelines if you want to come in person. I want to remind the jurors and everyone watching that the dirt senators may not consider any evidence and less taken under oath in this chamber. There decision, your decision, must only be based on the facts and evidence presented here in this chamber and by considering the credibility of the witnesses testifying here and here only, under oath. No evidence whatsoever outside of this chamber shall be considered for any purpose. This includes anything said in the house impeachment proceedings where no testimony was given under oath. Senators cannot consider anything reported in the news. Anything on social media or anything they have been told by anyone outside of this trial, this chamber. Only what you here under oath testify to in this court and your belief in those who are testifying. Senate jurors may only consider evidence given under oath in this chamber, as you are the sole determiners of the credibility of the witnesses called to testify. One unique aspect is that one senators spouse will be recused. The adopted rules make the spouse of the accused in eligible to vote as a juror. They can find no incident where a spouse in any type of trial was allowed to be a juror. However, even though senator paxton cannot vote the threshold to convict remains the same. The members kept the threshold at 2 3 of 31 senators. Which would still require 21, even though only 30 members are voting. The threshold is still 21 votes. At the end of the trial the members will deliberate in private, as any jury would. To be clear, the presiding officer, i do not have a vote on guilt or innocence. I will not give any member my opinion on how they should vote. Deliberations, the senator jurors will consider the following. Did the house managers prove beyond a reasonable doubt any article of impeachment against the attorney general . If so, should that article be sustained which would result in removal from office . It is a twopart question. Even if the member believes the house managers have proven an article beyond a reasonable doubt, the member may only sustain the article if they also believe attorney general paxton should be removed from office based on that article. If anyone of the 16 articles are sustained against attorney general paxton, he will be removed from office. The jury will then vote one last time on if you can hold Public Office again if that were to occur. Members at home watching, if you wish to read the 31 rules voted 253 by the senators in more detail, they are posted on our website. These are a few rules that will guide this trial. I hope my statements today clarify some questions that the public may have had or had. After i swear in witnesses who are present each party may make opening statements. After the articles are read, the impeachment articles are read. With that attorney general paxton, please rise. Clerk, please read the articles of impeachment one at a time by the house of representatives. Articles of impeachment, article one regard of official duty protection of charitable organizations. The Holding Office as the attorney general Kenneth Paxton violated the duties of his office by failing to act as a Public Protector of charitable organizations required by chapter 123 property code, specifically paxton caused employees of his office to intervene in the lawsuit brought by the roi as and joann Cole Foundation against several corporate entities controlled by nate paul. He harmed the foundation in an effort to benefit paul. Senator paxton, how do you plead . Attorney general, ken paxton is innocent and therefore pleads not guilty. The clerk will read the next article. Article two, disregard of official duty. While Holding Office as attorney general, Kenneth Paxton misused his official power to issue written opinions under subchapter c to government code, specifically paxton caused employees of his office to prepare an opinion in an attempt to avoid the impending foreclosure sales of properties belonging to nate paul or business entities controlled by paul. Paxton concealed his actions by soliciting the chair of a Senate Committee to serve as a strong requester. Paxton directed employees of his office to reverse their legal conclusion for the benefit of paul. Those allegations are untrue, therefore he pleads not guilty. I didnt mean to step on you. The allegations i just heard are untrue, therefore ken paxton pleads not guilty. Article three. Disregard of official duty and abuse of the open record process. While Holding Office as attorney general Kenneth Paxton is used his official power to the Public Administration law specifically paxton directed employees of his office to act contrary to law by refusing to render a proper decision relating to a Public Information request from records held by the department of Public Safety and by issuing a decision involving another Public Information request that was contrary to law and applicable legal precedent. Attorney general paxton, how deeply . How to you plea . Everything she said was false, so attorney general ken paxton pleads not guilty. Article 4, misuse of official information. The Holding Office as attorney general Kenneth Paxton misused his official power to administer the Public Information law chapter 552 government code. Paxton improperly obtained access to information held by his office that had not been publicly disclosed for the purpose of providing the information to the benefit of nate paul. Attorney general, how do you plead . Your honor, those are all untrue, therefore ken paxton pleads not guilty. Article 5, disregard of official duty. While Holding Office as attorney general Kenneth Paxton misused his official powers by violating the laws governing the appointment of prosecuting attorneys pro tem. He engaged an attorney to conduct an investigation into a baseless complaint during which he issued more than 30 grand jury subpoenas in an effort to benefit nate paul or pauls business entities. Attorney general paxton, how do you plea . The attorney general is innocent, and therefore pleads not guilty. Article six, termination of whistleblowers. While Holding Office as attorney general Kenneth Paxton violated the duties of his office by terminating and taking adverse personnel action against employees of his office in violation of this states whistleblower law chapter 554 government code. Paxton terminated employees of his office who made goodfaith reports of his unlawful actions to Law Enforcement authorities. Paxton terminated the employees without good cause or due process and in retaliation for reporting his illegal acts and improper conduct. Furthermore, paxton engaged in a public and private campaign to prejudice their future employment. How do you plead . Everything she said is legally and factually incorrect, therefore attorney general ken paxton pleads not guilty. Article seven, misapplication of Public Resources whistleblower investigation and report. While Holding Office of attorney general he misused Public Resources. Paxton redirected employees at his office to conduct a sham investigation into whistleblower complaints made by employees that can paxton had terminated and create and publish a long report containing false or misleading statements in paxtons defense. How do you plead . Allegations she referenced are untrue, therefore the attorney general pleads not guilty. Article 8. Disregard of official duty. While Holding Office as attorney general Kenneth Paxton misused his official powers by concealing his wrongful acts in connection with whistleblower complaints made by employees ken paxton had terminated. Specifically, paxton entered into a Settlement Agreement with the whistleblowers that provides for payment of the settlement from public funds. The Settlement Agreement states the wrongful termination suit and conspicuously delayed the discovery of facts and testimony at trial to paxtons advantage, which deprived of the electorate of its opportunity to make an informed decision when voting for attorney general. How do you plead . The attorney general is innocent of those charges and pleads not guilty. The clerk will read the next article. Article nine, while Holding Office as attorney general Kenneth Paxton engaged in bribery in violation of the Texas Constitution. Specifically paxton benefited from nate pauls employment of a woman with whom paxton was having an extramarital affair. Paul received favorable Legal Assistance from or specialized access to the office of the attorney general. How do you plead . Those allegations are flat out false. The attorney general pleads not guilty. Article 10, constitutional bribery. While Holding Office as attorney general Kenneth Paxton engaged in bribery in violation of section 41 article 16 Texas Constitution, specifically paxton benefited from nate paul providing renovations to paxtons home. Paul received favorable Legal Assistance from or specialized access to the office of the attorney general. How do you plead . Those allegations are offensive and false. The attorney general pleads not guilty. Article 15. False statements in official records whistleblower response report. While Holding OfficeKenneth Paxton made false or misleading statements in official records to mislead both the public and Public Officials will stop paxton made or caused to be made multiple or full misleading statements in the long written report issued by his office in response to whistleblower allegations. How do you plead . I stand by that report and therefore pleads not guilty. Objection. It is simply that if he wants to take the stand and testify, we welcome that. Otherwise it is a plea from the client. You can enter a plea of not guilty. He cannot make speeches as he does that. I ask he be instructed to plead guilty or not guilty but not make speeches. Sustained. The clerk will read the next charge. Conspiracy and attempt to attempted conspiracy. He acted with others to conspire or attempt to conspire to commit acts described in one or more articles. How do you plead . Absolutely not guilty. The clerk will read the next article. Misappropriation of Public Resources. While Holding OfficeKenneth Paxton misused his official powers by causing employees of his office to perform services for his benefit and the benefit of others. Again, your honor, not guilty. The next article. Dereliction of duty. While Holding OfficeKenneth Paxton violated the Texas Constitution. His oath of office, statutes, and Public Policy against Public Officials acting contrary to the Public Interest by engaging in acts described in one or more articles. Not guilty. Article 19. Unfitness for office. While Holding Office as attorney general Kenneth Paxton engaged in misconduct, private or public , of such character to indicate his unfitness for office as shown by the acts described in one or more articles. Not guilty, your honor. Article 20. Abuse of public trust. While Holding Office, Kenneth Paxton used, misused, or failed to use his official power in a manner calculated to lawful operation of the government of the state of texas and abstract the fair and Impartial Administration of justice, thereby bringing the office into scandal and disrepute to the prejudice of Public Confidence and the government of this state as shown by the acts described in one or more articles. Your honor, the attorney general is innocent and will plead not guilty. You may be seated. Bailiff, do we have witnesses to be sworn in . Please bring them into the court