Officials with the Texas House of Representatives asked Attorney General Ken Paxton to leave the House Floor during a session on Tuesday.
AG Paxton said he was asked by several Republican members of the Texas House to come by for a photo in the waning days of the legislative session. Paxton joined the House members on the floor and was approached by the Sergeant at Arms, who asked him to leave the floor as he did not have an invitation from the House.
House Administration Committee Chairman Charlie Geren (R-Fort Worth) told the Quorum Report’s Scott Braddock that Paxton was asked to leave the House floor and go to the member’s lounge with the reps who requested the photo op. Geren said the Texas Attorney General is not listed on the House rules as a person having automatic permission to be on the floor while the House is in session.
Braddock provided the following copy of the House rules regarding who can be on the Floor:
Texas House of Representatives
In a War Room interview, Paxton said he thought he was authorized to be on the Floor due to his prior service in the Legislature. The House staff member informed Paxton that it was incorrect because he is the sitting Attorney General, and House rules do not grant him that permission.
According to the rules listed above, former House members are also not afforded the automatic permission to be on the Floor during a session. House officials say that neither Paxton nor the members who requested his presence asked for permission for him to be on the Floor.
Paxton acknowledged that Geren and the Speaker of the House are the “sole authorities” to grant permission to be on the floor. He added, “They made a big deal out of it. They didn’t need to do that.
Paxton was not asked to leave the House chamber, only the floor. He was escorted to a VIP area known as the Members’ Lounge, Braddock stated. The photo op took place in that area of the House chamber.
Bob Price is the Breitbart Texas-Border team’s associate editor and senior news contributor. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday morning talk show. He also serves as president of Blue Wonder Gun Care Products.
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