Ken Paxton will not testify at his impeachment trial, attorney says
Legal Events
Embattled Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton will not testify in his upcoming impeachment trial that could result in the Republican being permanently removed from office, according to his defense team.
In a lengthy statement released Monday night, Paxton’s lead attorney against criticized the proceedings that led to the GOP-controlled Texas House impeaching the state’s top law enforcement in May.
The trial in the Texas Senate is scheduled to begin Sept. 5. “They had the opportunity to have Attorney General Paxton testify during their sham investigation but refused to do so,” attorney Tony Buzbee said in a statement. “We will not bow to their evil, illegal, and unprecedented weaponization of state power in the Senate chamber.”
A spokesman for the House managers leading the impeachment did not immediately return a message seeking comment Tuesday.
Paxton, a Republican, is temporarily suspended from office pending the outcome of his trial on 20 articles of impeachment that include charges of bribery and abuse of office. Separately, he is under FBI investigation over accusations that he used his power to help a donor. That donor was indicted in a federal court in Austin last month on charges of making false statements to banks.
Paxton is also still awaiting trial on felony securities fraud charges from 2015. He has pleaded not guilty and has never been given a deposition in the case’s eight-year history, according to impeachment managers.
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USCIS Will Begin Accepting CW-1 Petitions for Fiscal Year 2019
On April 2, 2018, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) will begin accepting petitions under the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands (CNMI)-Only Transitional Worker (CW-1) program subject to the fiscal year (FY) 2019 cap. Employers in the CNMI use the CW-1 program to employ foreign workers who are ineligible for other nonimmigrant worker categories. The cap for CW-1 visas for FY 2019 is 4,999.
For the FY 2019 cap, USCIS encourages employers to file a petition for a CW-1 nonimmigrant worker up to six months in advance of the proposed start date of employment and as early as possible within that timeframe. USCIS will reject a petition if it is filed more than six months in advance. An extension petition may request a start date of Oct. 1, 2018, even if that worker’s current status will not expire by that date.
Since USCIS expects to receive more petitions than the number of CW-1 visas available for FY 2019, USCIS may conduct a lottery to randomly select petitions and associated beneficiaries so that the cap is not exceeded. The lottery would give employers the fairest opportunity to request workers, particularly with the possibility of mail delays from the CNMI.
USCIS will count the total number of beneficiaries in the petitions received after 10 business days to determine if a lottery is needed. If the cap is met after those initial 10 days, a lottery may still need to be conducted with only the petitions received on the last day before the cap was met. USCIS will announce when the cap is met and whether a lottery has been conducted.