Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called on Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan to resign, Tuesday after a video circulated on social media showing Phelan slurring his speech and struggling to stand, along with many suggested that he was drunk.
In a statement, Paxton called on Phelan to resign after being in an “apparently debilitating state of intoxication” on the floor of the Texas Capitol.
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In the statement, the attorney general said that the speaker’s behavior “negatively affects the legislative process and is a failure to fulfill his public duty.” Additionally, Paxton said, “Texans are counting on the House to pass critical conservative priorities including protecting the integrity of our elections and preventing Chinese spies from controlling Texas soil.”
Ken Paxton, Texas attorney general, speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Dallas, Texas, US, on Sunday, July 11, 2021. The three-day conference is titled “America UnCanceled.” Photographer: Dylan Hollingsworth/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Dylan Hollingsworth/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Paxton added that Phelan’s “failures as Speaker” have created a “crisis of credibility for all Republican candidates for our entire Party.”
Paxton concluded the statement by saying, “I hope Speaker Phelan gets the help he needs” and that he has proven himself “unworthy of the trust of Texans and incapable of leading Texas House.”
Paxton also issued a referral to the chairman of the Texas House General Investigating and Ethics Committee, Rep. Andrew Murr, who called for an investigation into possible “violation of House rules, state law, and for conduct unbecoming of his position.”
Although Speaker Phelan’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment, the office addressed the allegations in other reports. According to The Texan news reporter Brad Johnson, in response to the House ethics panel announcing an investigation. Phelan spokeswoman Cait Wittman called Paxton’s statement a “last ditch effort to save face.”
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