Ken Paxton impeachment trial cost taxpayers $5.1M, state audit finds

AUSTIN, Texas - The impeachment trial of Attorney General Ken Paxton cost taxpayers $5.1 million, the Texas State Auditor's Office said Friday.

The majority of that spending, $4.4 million, came from the Texas House.

Where did the money go?

By the numbers:

In total, the impeachment and trial cost taxpayers $5,110,038.

The state auditor said $4,436,498 of those expenses came from the House.

 A majority of the House's spending was from contracted professional services, which the auditor's office defined as costs for attorneys, investigators and other related costs.

Here is a full breakdown of the spending by the Texas House:

• Contracted Professional Services $4,049,122
• Salaries and Wages $274,419
• Legislative Per Diem $79,624
• Travel $29,425
• Supplies $3,908

By comparison, the Texas Senate spent $435,087:

• Contracted Professional Services $325,101
• Legislative Per Diem $70,720
• Travel $31,852
• Supplies $7,414

The rest of the spending came from the attorney general's office, which spent $229,871, most of which came from salaries and wages.

State Auditor Lisa Collier said 86% of expenses fell into the contracted professional services category.

What they're saying:

"As I said from the very beginning, taxpayers have a right to know how much of their tax dollars were spent on former Speaker Dade Phelan’s failed political gambit," Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in a statement. "The Senate spent taxpayer funds as prudently as possible, only spending $435,087 on the entire trial. This included $135,000 in printing fees of the journal, as required by Senate rules."

Patrick has been calling for the release of the House expenditures since the trial ended claiming Phelan refused to release the records.

"Former Speaker Phelan left the speakership withholding the House’s impeachment records, despite repeated widespread calls for him to release the records in the name of transparency," Patrick said. "When I asked new Speaker Burrows to release the House’s impeachment expenditures, he gave me two boxes of documents almost immediately, which I promptly handed over to the State Auditor on March 6, 2025."

Patrick called the impeachment attempt an "ill-fated gambit" and a "complete waste of money."

Patrick claimed Phelan purposely withheld the records to avoid the topic during November's election and that the money was spent on outside attorneys.

New House Speaker Dustin Burrows was one of the 60 Republicans that voted to impeach the attorney general.

Ken Paxton Impeachment Trial

The backstory:

The House investigation into Paxton started after whistleblowers inside the attorney general's office sued Paxton, claiming he retaliated against members of the office after the FBI opened an investigation into whether he had abused his authority to help a wealthy friend and donor.

The House General Investigating Committee cited a yearlong pattern of alleged misconduct and lawbreaking as the reason to recommend impeachment, which passed 121-23 in May 2023.

What followed was a nearly two-week trial that saw Paxton acquitted in the Texas Senate on all 16 articles of impeachment taken up against him.