Texas Attorney General Paxton calls on State House Speaker Dade Phelan to resign after ‘apparent intoxication’

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton called on Texas House Speaker Dade Phelan to resign on Tuesday after a video circulated on social media showing Phelan articulating his speech and struggling to stand, many suggesting he might have been intoxicated.

In a statement, Paxton called on Phelan to resign after he was in a state of “apparent debilitating intoxication” upstairs in the Texas Capitol house.

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In the statement, the attorney general said the president’s conduct “has negatively impacted the legislative process and constitutes a dereliction of duty to the public.” Additionally, Paxton said, “Texans were counting on the House to pass critical conservative priorities, including protecting the integrity of our elections and keeping Chinese spies from controlling Texas lands.”

Paxton added that Phelan’s “failures as president” have created a “credibility crisis for all Republican candidates for our entire party.”

Paxton ended the statement by saying, “I hope President Phelan gets the help he needs” and that he has proven himself “untrustworthy by Texans and incapable of running the Texas House.”

Paxton also sent a referral to the chairman of the Texas House General Investigation and Ethics Committee, Rep. Andrew Murr, calling for an investigation into a possible “violation of house rules, state law and for conduct unbecoming of his position”.

Although President Phelan’s office did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment, the office did respond to the allegations in other reports. According to Texas reporter Brad Johnson, in response to the House Ethics Committee announcing an investigation. Phelan spokeswoman Cait Wittman called Paxton’s statement “a last ditch effort to save face.”

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