'Solid use of public funds': Republican mocked for flying to NY to 'stand with Trump'
Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton announced Tuesday morning that he was supporting his friend, Donald Trump, during his hush money trial in New York.
The Texas leader wrote via X (formerly Twitter), "With President Trump in NYC to sit through this sham of a trial. This trial is a travesty of justice. I stand with Trump."
Last May, CNN published an article by longtime Texas political journalist James Moore, who reported:
The impeachment of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton over allegations of corruption, bribery and obstruction of justice has political experts contemplating whether things are coming undone for the state's Republican Party and its control of government. The answer is no — at least not yet. The Texas GOP has decided to dump an officeholder who appears to have gone a bit too far and embarrassed the party to the point of becoming a political liability. The challenge for Republicans will be how to remove him from office without harming the party or its members. And that won't be easy.
READ MORE: Ken Paxton’s impeachment trial could 'seriously wound' Texas Republicans
The far-right Texas leader was not successfully ousted.
Washington Post editorial writer and columnist James Hohmann noted in an op-ed last month that Paxton "was acquitted by the state Senate in September, and now the attorney general has embarked on a revenge tour aimed at many of the Republicans in the state House who impeached him."
Hohmann wrote:
His top target is Dade Phelan, the House speaker. The attorney general stars in commercials for one of Phelan’s primary challengers, David Covey, and flew to Phelan’s hometown, Beaumont, to campaign against him. Paxton even enlisted Donald Trump to endorse Covey. On social media, the former president blamed Phelan for Paxton’s impeachment, which Trump called an 'absolute embarrassment' for 'our Great Republican Party.'
A few political experts — some based in Texas — mocked the attorney general's decision to stand by Trump during his first criminal trial.
READ MORE: Tensions between Ken Paxton and Republican Texas House speaker reach boiling point
Harris County, Texas Attorney Christian D. Menefee said, "Solid use of public funds here."
Quorum Report editor Scott Braddock wrote, "Attorney General Paxton did not sit through his own "sham of a trial" in the Texas Senate last year #TxLege"
Vanity Fair special correspondent Molly Jong-Fast tweeted, "If Eric [Trump] were an AG."
READ MORE: Ken Paxton impeachment fight exposes deep fissures among Texas GOP