NationalWatch

The Texas Senate has acquitted state Attorney General Ken Paxton of all impeachment articles filed against him for corruption and unfitness for office. 

Though there is bipartisan support for impeachment, votes to convict on each charge did not clear the 21-vote threshold. Republican Sens. Robert Nichols and Kelly Hancock joined all 12 Democrats to vote in favor of conviction on several charges. 

The Texas Senate convened at 10:30 a.m. central time Saturday to vote and finished just before 1 p.m. 

“Today, the truth prevailed. The truth could not be buried by mudslinging politicians or their powerful benefactors,” Paxton said in a statement thanking his supporters after the verdict was delivered. 

TRUMP WEIGHS IN ON TEXAS AG KEN PAXTON IMPEACHMENT TRIAL, ARGUES ‘ESTABLISHMENT RINOS’ WANT TO ‘UNDO’ ELECTION

“The sham impeachment coordinated by the Biden Administration with liberal House Speaker Dade Phelan and his kangaroo court has cost taxpayers millions of dollars, disrupted the work of the Office of Attorney General and left a dark and permanent stain on the Texas House,” Paxton said, calling the “weaponization” of impeachment “immoral and corrupt.” 

“Now that this shameful process is over, my work to defend our constitutional rights will resume. Thank you to everyone who has stood with us during this time,” he added. 

Texas Gov. Greg Abbott congratulated Paxton after the trial concluded. 

“The jury has spoken. Attorney General Ken Paxton received a fair trial as required by the Texas Constitution. I look forward to continuing to work with the Attorney General to secure the border and protect Texas from federal overreach,” Abbott said. 

EXTRAMARITAL AFFAIR DETAILS SURFACE IN HISTORIC IMPEACHMENT TRIAL OF TEXAS AG KEN PAXTON

The jury of 30 senators, most of whom are Republicans, spent about eight hours deliberating behind closed doors since the Senate ended deliberations. A two-thirds majority was required to convict Paxton on any of 16 articles of impeachment that accuse Paxton of bribery, corruption and unfitness for office.

The vote was a slow, public process. Each article of impeachment received a separate vote. Republicans hold a 19-12 majority in the Senate, meaning that if all Democrats voted to convict Paxton, they needed nine Republicans to join them. At most, they got two. 

Paxton faced accusations that he misused his political power to help the real estate developer Nate Paul. Paxton’s opponents have argued that the attorney general accepted a bribe by hiring Paul.

“If we don’t keep public officials from abusing the powers of their office, then frankly no one can,” Republican state Rep. Andrew Murr, one of the impeachment managers in the Texas House, said during closing arguments. 

ALLEGED MISTRESS OF TEXAS AG KEN PAXTON DEEMED ‘UNAVAILABLE’ TO TAKE STAND AT HIS IMPEACHMENT TRIAL

Attorneys for the bipartisan group of lawmakers prosecuting Paxton’s impeachment rested their case Wednesday after a woman who was expected to testify about an extramarital affair with Paxton made a sudden appearance at the trial, but she never took the stand.

The affair was central to the proceedings and accusations of Paul, who was under FBI investigation and employed the woman, Laura Olson. One of the articles of impeachment against Paxton alleged that Paul’s hiring of Olson amounted to a bribe.

Paxton’s lawyers have cast the impeachment effort as a ploy by establishment Republicans to remove a proven conservative from office, pointing to Paxton’s long record of challenging Democratic presidential administrations in high profile court cases that have won him acclaim from former President Donald Trump and conservative hardliners. 

“I would suggest to you this is a political witch hunt,” Paxton attorney Tony Buzbee said. “I would suggest to you that this trial has displayed, for the country to see, a partisan fight within the Republican Party.”

Paxton was also previously indicted in June for allegedly making false statements to banks. 

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Paxton, who was suspended from office pending the trial’s outcome, was not required to attend the proceedings and appeared only once in the Senate, durinc closing arguments, since testimony began last week. His wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, sat across the room from him. She was required to be present for the whole trial but was prohibited from participating in debate or voting on the outcome of her husband’s trial. 

Fox News’ Danielle Wallace and the Associated Press contributed to this report. 

DES MOINES, Iowa – With just four months to go until the Iowa caucuses, nearly the entire field of Republican White House contenders is back this weekend in the state that leads off the GOP presidential nominating calendar.

The presidential candidates are speaking Saturday evening at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition’s annual fall banquet, as they each make their case to a large and influential crowd of social conservative leaders, activists, and Evangelical voters, who play an outsized role in Hawkeye State Republican politics.

“Labor Day is over. Kids are back in school and people are starting to really tune in,” longtime Iowa based Republican strategist and communicator Jimmy Centers said.

Pointing to last month’s Iowa State Fair, where all but one contender in the large field of Republican presidential candidates courted voters, Centers noted that “the state fair was when people started to wake up and realized that the caucus was coming. 

HOW THIS ONE-TIME BATTLEGROUND STATE IN THE HEARTLAND TURNED BRIGHT RED

Veteran Iowa Republican operative and consultant Nicole Schlinger highlighted that “once Labor Day has passed, school has started and the weather starts to turn, that’s when peoples’ minds start turning to elections and people get more serious about vetting the candidates in terms of making a decision.” 

With the clock quickly ticking towards the start of the 2024 Republican primary and caucus calendar, former President Donald Trump remains the commanding front-runner for his party’s nomination, as he makes his third straight White House run. 

TRUMP – DESANTIS SHOWDOWN AT THE IOWA STATE FAIR 

And his historic four criminal indictments — including two for allegedly trying to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Biden — appear to have only strengthened his support among likely Republican primary voters.

The latest Fox News national survey in the GOP nomination race, conducted Sept. 9-12 and released on Thursday, pointed to Trump expanding his already enormous lead over the rest of the field.

But while still towering over his rivals, Trump’s lead in the latest surveys in Iowa, as well as New Hampshire and South Carolina, two other crucial early voting states in the Republican nominating calendar, is not as overwhelming.

IT’S TRUMP’S RACE TO LOSE FOUR AND A HALF MONTHS AHEAD OF THE FIRST VOTES IN THE GOP NOMINATION BATTLE

“It’s closer in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina that it is nationally, but it’s not close,” said David Kochel, a longtime Republican consultant and veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns in Iowa and nationally.

“These things do break late. There’s a lot of stuff we haven’t seen or heard yet. Whether it’s Trump’s trials, which I don’t think are going to move any numbers against him. Whether it’s future debates. Whether it’s something we can’t foresee now,” Kochel noted. “The door’s still open but it’s not as wide open as it was.”

Centers, a presidential campaign veteran in Iowa who also served as communications director to then-Gov. Terry Brandstad and current Gov. Kim Reynolds, noted that “Trump’s numbers aren’t budging.”

MEET THE GOP GOVERNOR THE REPUBLICAN PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES – OTHER THAN TRUMP – ARE PRAISING

“At some point the rest of the field has to make a stronger and more compelling argument as they why them. Why are we changing horses from the former president. He’s been indicted four times, but he’s only getting stronger,” Centers stressed. “They have to speak more directly to that point and start doing it soon.”

Pointing to evangelical voters in Iowa, Kochel noted that they tend “to move as a group… and they move late.”

Trump is one of the handful of GOP presidential candidates who won’t be attending Saturday’s Faith and Freedom Coalition cattle call, although the former president returns to Iowa next week.

Schlinger, who’s well-connected to the social conservative community, said that Trump’s “track record on issues concerning life is extremely good,” and that “it’s not surprising that there hasn’t been much change” when it comes to his large double-digit lead in the Iowa polls.

But she added “I think there’s a path open for another candidate or two to perform well and exceed expectations in Iowa… The door’s open but someone needs to walk through it and that hasn’t happened yet.”

But the strategists all stressed that now’s the time for Trump’s rivals to make a move.

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“This is where the rubber meets the road. We’re past Labor Day. We’re into debate season,” Kochel highlighted. “If you’re not firing on all cylinders now, and you don’t have the money to see your way through New Hampshire, it’s best to step aside and get out of this thing, so we can really determine who might be able to take Trump on one-on-one.”

And Centers noted that “this is not a primary. It takes organization. Campaigns need to be holding events, using those events to build an organization, and then follow up with those folks that they’ve recruited, either through door knocking, through phone banking, to build out a robust organization.”

“It doesn’t build itself. If you’re not starting it now, it’s too late,” he stressed.

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

A member of the House Appropriations Committee says that the chamber’s Department of Homeland Security appropriation bill is centering around border security — particularly restarting border wall construction — to combat the ongoing crisis at the southern border, as well as cutting spending and getting rid of “woke” funding sources.

“We said we’d do two things: We’d curb the spending, and we would remove the woke,” Rep. Ryan Zinke, R-Mont., told Fox News Digital in an interview this week.

The appropriations bill for DHS includes a slew of Republican priorities when it comes to the border, including increasing funding for wall construction along the southern border by over $2 billion, and would force the agency to allocate the funding to build it within 120 days. It is expected to move forward next week.

BIDEN’S REPORTED ‘REMAIN-IN-TEXAS’ MIGRANT POLICY COMES UNDER FIRE AS REPUBLICANS TAKE ACTION

The Trump-era wall project was scrapped by the Biden administration, although some construction is still ongoing due to language in appropriations bills approved during the Trump administration. Zinke made clear that it remains a top priority for Republicans in this legislation.

“People ask me, ‘What does a bill look like?’ I say, ‘Well, primarily it looks about 32 feet tall and about 600 miles long. That’s what it looks like.'”

It would also provide funding for 22,000 Border Patrol agents and fund border security technology with $228 million.

“You have more money directed to the men who man the wall. That’s our Border Patrol professionals, because, you know, they’re having a hard time recruiting and those type of things, so it puts more money on actually the people that man the wall and then increases the technology around the wall,” he said.

HOUSE REPUBLICANS MOVE TO USE DHS FUNDING BILL TO RAMP UP IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT, HIT SANCTUARY CITIES

That would include Autonomous Surveillance Towers and Tactical Aerostats — the administration grounded those aerostats last year. Separately, it would fund ICE to the tune of nearly $10 billion.

He also pointed to language that would prevent funding for “gender-affirming care” for illegal immigrants in detention and for diversity, equality and inclusion programs and add restrictions on programs that include critical race theory.

The bill will be open to amendments, of which a number of Republicans have proposed a number of hard-hitting amendments — including reducing Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas’ salary and defunding “sanctuary” cities. Zinke said he expects the bill to remain roughly the same after the amendment process.

MASS MIGRANT RELEASES BEGIN IN SAN DIEGO AS BORDER OVERWHELMED: ‘YOU’RE FREE’ 

“There might be a few additions, subtractions back and forth, but I think the core and the thrust of the bill will remain the same,” he said. “I think it’s a good bill. And if you’re a conservative, you know, I think you want to curb the spending and remove the woke. And all these appropriation bills do just that.”

Zinke does not expect the Democratic-controlled Senate to think much of the bill that would eventually emerge from the lower chamber. He was blunt in his assessment of the upper chamber. 

“Looking at what the Senate passed, I don’t think the Senate is going to like our bill at all . . . the Senate in many ways, I think, is too old and too fat on pork to change.“

The bill comes amid a looming shutdown threat if the government is not funded past September 30. Lawmakers have until then to fund the government or pass a short-term stopgap continuing resolution. Zinke says it is up to the House to do its job in passing its appropriations bills, and then it’s in the hands of the Senate.

“We need to get two or three or four appropriations done, and that’s enough just to begin the reconciliation process to get the bills in shape where they become law. But if the Senate doesn’t take them up, the shutdown is going to be squarely on their lap, because we’ll do our job.”

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He also emphasized the importance of the appropriations process over tools like continuing resolutions.

“These firewalls we’ve built over time, continuing resolutions and mandatory and discretionary, all these clever terms, I think have drawn us away from our primary duty of appropriations, and they are conveniences that allowed Congress to punt all these years,” he said. 

“And now we’re going down to the one-inch line. I don’t think we can punt anymore. We’ve got to take the hard call.”

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa – When it comes to the combustible issue of abortion, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley appears to be on a mission.

“We are not going to demonize this issue anymore. We’re going to humanize it because it’s too personal of an issue,” the former ambassador and former two-term South Carolina governor said Saturday in a Fox News Digital interview minutes before she headlined a town hall in the suburbs of Iowa’s capitol city.

That line echoes Haley’s statements on the issue from last month.

“We need to stop demonizing this issue,” Haley said in August at the first Republican debate, a Fox News hosted showdown last month in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. “It’s personal for every woman and man.”

WITH FOUR MONTHS UNTIL THE FIRST VOTES, THE 2024 GOP BATTLE HEATS UP IN THE FIRST CAUCUS STATE

The blockbuster move last year by the Supreme Court’s conservative majority to overturn the landmark nearly half-century-old Roe v. Wade ruling, which had allowed for legalized abortions nationwide, moved the divisive issue back to the states.

And it’s forced Republicans to play plenty of defense in elections across the country, as a party that’s nearly entirely “pro-life” has had to deal with an electorate where a majority of Americans support at least some form of abortion access.

Haley, as she faces off against a dozen rivals for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, is pushing a message that she hope will resonate both with the GOP’s anti-abortion base as well as moderate Republicans and swing voters who support some degree of legalized abortion.

HALEY SAYS HER 2024 MOMENTUM COMES DOWN TO THIS

She’s also been critical — as witnessed in the first debate — of some of her rivals who are heavily advocating for a 15-week federal abortion ban.

“Our goal is to save as many babies as we can. Support as many moms as we can. That’s the goal. So in order to do that, we have to have 60 Senate votes. Let’s see where that is but we only have 45 pro-life senators,” Haley said on Saturday. 

“So let’s focus on what we do agree on,” she said. “Let’s ban late-term abortions. Let’s encourage adoptions. Let’s make sure contraceptives accessible. Let’s make sure that nurses and doctors who don’t believe abortion don’t have to perform them. And let’s make sure no state law requires a women to go to jail or get the death penalty for abortion. We’re talking about hard truths and women around the country agree with me.”

Haley was interviewed at Jethro’s BBQ, a popular eatery with multiple locations in Iowa, the state whose caucuses kick off the GOP presidential nominating calendar.

And she spoke hours before she and most of the rest of the field of Republican presidential candidates attend the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition’s annual fall banquet, as the contenders each make their case to a large and influential crowd of social conservative leaders, activists, and Evangelical voters, who play an outsized role in Hawkeye State Republican politics.

HOW THIS ONE-TIME BATTLEGROUND STATE IN THE HEARTLAND TURNED BRIGHT RED

Nicole Schlinger, a longtime Republican strategist in Iowa who’s well-connected to the social conservative community, said that former President Donald Trump’s “track record on issues concerning life is extremely good,” and that “it’s not surprising that there hasn’t been much change” when it comes to his large double-digit lead in the Iowa polls.

Trump remains the commanding front-runner in the latest polls in Iowa, the other early voting states, and especially in national surveys, as he runs a third striaght time for the White House.

But Schlinger added “I think there’s a path open for another candidate or two to perform well and exceed expectations in Iowa… The door’s open but someone needs to walk through it and that hasn’t happened yet.”

Pointing to Haley, she said “I think she has a great story to tell but she needs to clarify more what she said on that debate stage” regarding abortion.

Haley has enjoyed plenty of polling and fundraising momentum since her well-regarded performance in the first Republican presidential primary debate.

And in her first trip back to Iowa sine the debate showdown, she drew healthy crowds Friday at a couple of agriculture-themed events in eastern Iowa and a large crowd Saturday morning to her town hall in suburban Des Moines.

“We’ve seen hundreds of people come out. We love it. Iowa’s ready. They’re paying attention,” Haley spotlighted. “Momentum from the debate but they also like what we have to say and I’ve said for a long time – we have a country to save and I’m determined to do it and it all starts here in Iowa.”

Haley emphasized that “people are excited. They want something different. They want a new generational leader. They want to leave the chaos of the past and they want go forward and they’re tired of the fact that they just don’t feel like anyone’s listening. What we tell them is not only do we hear you, but we’re ready to get to work for you and I think that’s what the people of Iowa and that what the people around the country want.”

It’s expected for Haley to tout her momentum. But two well known GOP strategist in Iowa who are neutral in the 2024 nomination battle are also pointing to her upward trajectory.

“I think Ambassador Haley did herself a lot of favor. I think she’s in a really good spot,” longtime Iowa based Republican strategist and communicator Jimmy Centers said, as he pointed towards the first debate.

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And David Kochel, a longtime Republican consultant and veteran of numerous GOP presidential campaigns in Iowa and nationally, said that “Nikki got the best bounce out of the debate. I’ve seen it in our internal data.”

“Maybe she’s in a dead heat with [Florida Gov. Ron] DeSantis,” Kochel said, before adding that “it’s still 25 points behind Trump.”

Get the latest updates from the 2024 campaign trail, exclusive interviews and more at our Fox News Digital election hub.

• Pennsylvania is considering bumping its April primary date back into March, partly to avoid voting taking place on the first day of Passover next year.
• A proposal by Republican state Sen. David Argall would set the Keystone State’s 2024 primary date as either March 19 or March 26.
• Argall acknowledged in an interview that the date still leaves Pennsylvania’s primary after those of several other large states, as well as after Super Tuesday.

Pennsylvania is considering changing the state’s 2024 presidential primary to an earlier day, although the proposed move may do little to give the state’s voters more say in deciding presidential nominees.

State lawmakers plan to vote on legislation Wednesday that would change Pennsylvania’s primary from late April to late March.

The state is a premier battleground in presidential elections, but it hasn’t hosted a competitive presidential primary since 2008, when Hillary Clinton pulled off a win to stay alive against Barack Obama, the leader in delegates and eventual winner of that year’s Democratic nomination.

KANSAS SETS MARCH 2024 PRESIDENTIAL PRIMARY DATE

For now, President Joe Biden faces a couple of Democratic challengers, but is expected to secure his party’s nomination, while former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis have dominated the early Republican race in a field that is about a dozen deep.

Under current law, Pennsylvania’s primary date is the fourth Tuesday in April, which lands on April 23.

Many states want to hold presidential primaries earlier, to give residents more influence in the trajectory of presidential campaigns. But Pennsylvania lawmakers have resisted a change because it would push the beginning of the state’s customary 13-week primary season into the winter holidays.

On Wednesday, a state Senate committee could advance a proposal to change the primary election to March 19 or March 26.

The Senate bill’s sponsor has long pushed to hold Pennsylvania’s primary earlier, before presidential candidates have all but locked down the delegates they need to win the nomination.

In an interview, Sen. David Argall, R-Schuylkill, acknowledged that moving it to either of those dates still leaves many states with large numbers of delegates before Pennsylvania, including Super Tuesday primary states on March 5.

By March 19, a candidate could lock up the delegates necessary to win the nomination, or at least put the contest out of reach.

This year, more lawmakers are motivated to support a change because April 23 is the first day of Passover, a Jewish holiday when observant Jews typically avoid the same activities they avoid on the Sabbath, such as driving, working or using electricity.

Gov. Josh Shapiro, who is Jewish, has said he supports changing the date, as well.

WATCH THE FULL REPUBLICAN PRIMARY DEBATE

Argall’s bill would move the primary date to March 19, the same date as Ohio, Florida, Illinois, Kansas and Arizona. Still, that date comes after primaries in other major states, including California, Texas, Georgia, Michigan, North Carolina, Virginia, Massachusetts and Tennessee.

Many state lawmakers oppose moving Pennsylvania’s primary date to March 19, because that would force them and other candidates to start gathering signatures on their re-election petitions the week before Christmas, Argall said.

A forthcoming amendment to the bill would change the primary date to March 26. Under that scenario, Pennsylvania leaps over just Delaware, Rhode Island and Wisconsin, whose primaries are scheduled for April 2.

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Separately, a House bill expected to get consideration would move Pennsylvania’s primary date to April 2, the first Tuesday after Easter. That would allow lawmakers and other candidates to start gathering signatures on their re-election petitions the day after New Year’s Day, the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta, D-Philadelphia, said.

Green Party presidential candidate Cornel West came out swinging against the Democratic Party establishment and progressive Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., for endorsing President Biden.

West – a high-profile racial activist and academic who Democrats worry may spoil Biden’s re-election bid in 2024 – remarked that the Democratic Party is “beyond redemption,” during an interview Tuesday with The Hill’s Rising. The Green Party candidate added that Sanders’ recent argument that Biden represents progressives’ best hope to stave off authoritarianism wasn’t persuasive.

“I think that Brother Bernie’s being consistent. He has said that all along, and I can understand the argument. I think it’s a plausible argument. I just don’t think it’s a persuasive one,” West said. “I think that the argument he’s making means that there’s never any possibility for breaking from the corporate duopoly, there’s never any possibility of trying to speak to the needs of poor working people.”

“I think deep down in his heart he knows that the Democratic Party has no fundamental intention of speaking to the needs of poor people and working people,” he continued. “They are dominated by their corporate wing, they’re dominated by the militarists when it comes to foreign policy. He and AOC and the others are going to be, in a certain sense, window dressing.”

CORNEL WEST CALLS OUT BIDEN’S PAST ‘CONNECTIONS’ TO SEGREGATIONISTS, SAYS TRUMP ALSO FLAWED ON RACIAL ISSUES

West further argued that the Democratic Party cannot be saved from certain forces within and that voters should be given an alternative to established parties.

THIRD-PARTY PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE CORNEL WEST RIPS ‘MEDIOCRE, MILQUETOAST’ BIDEN: ‘GET OFF THE CRACK PIPE’

“The Democratic Party is beyond redemption at this point when it comes to seriously speaking to the needs of poor and working people,” West stated. “The neofascism that’s escalating is predicated on the rottenness of a system in which the Democratic Party facilitates frustration and desperation because it can’t present an alternative. If America is not able to present an alternative to the Democratic Party, then we’re going fascism.”

“Now, Brother Bernie understands that, don’t get me wrong, he’s on my side in that sense. But at this particular historical moment, he’s on the side of the Democratic establishment rather than the critics of that establishment trying to generate an alternative.”

West’s comments come as national polling continues to show him taking a key share of the vote from Biden. 

According to a poll conducted last week by the Emerson College Polling Center, in a head-to-head matchup between former President Donald Trump and Biden, Trump would receive 44%, Biden would receive 39% and West would receive 4% of the vote. The margin is significantly smaller without West in the race, the survey showed.

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West first announced his candidacy in June, running originally for the People’s Party before switching to the Green Party.

Since then, as he has gained support, Democrats like Sanders and Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., and Jim McGovern, D-Mass., have expressed concern about his ability to potentially hurt Biden’s re-election chances.