(LifeSiteNews) — Texas Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton spoke to conservative commentator Tucker Carlson on Wednesday in the first interview since he was fully acquitted of over a dozen articles of impeachment, arguing he was politically targeted as a result of his efforts to investigate Big Tech, Big Pharma, and vote fraud.
The Texas Senate voted Saturday to acquit Paxton on the charges of misconduct, bribery and corruption.
In a 45-minute interview posted to X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, the Republican AG told Carlson he had been suspended, cut off from his income, and placed under a gag order after 16 articles of impeachment were brought against him.
“It became very political,” Paxton said. “And I am sitting here because of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and I was delivered. It wasn’t just about the law. It became political completely and I didn’t know how it was going to turn out.”
“If you can do impeachments like this and you can have mail-in ballots, we don’t have democracy,” he said. “We have control by a few people.”
Ep. 25 Liberals like Karl Rove just tried to annihilate Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. It didn’t work. Paxton just joined us for his first interview since his acquittal. pic.twitter.com/SAJGNN5LXW
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) September 21, 2023
The conservative attorney general, who has led the nation’s largest AG’s office in moves to protect the preborn, defend children from LGBT indoctrination, and investigate COVID-19 jab manufacturers, vote fraud, and monolithic Big Tech companies like Facebook and Google, told Carlson that media outlets and opponents “buried me in negativity” in the press while he was unable to speak out in his own defense.
Political strategist and former George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove even penned an article last month declaring “the end is near for” Paxton.
READ: Texas AG Ken Paxton sues Google for allegedly collecting biometric data without user consent
Paxton said “there’s no doubt” that his high-profile investigations challenging major power structures landed him in the crosshairs of his opponents and triggered the attempt to impeach him.
“As soon as I did that, that blew up my world. And, I think, I became a target of some Big Pharma, Big Tech, and, obviously, the Biden administration,” he said.
“We caused a lot of trouble for the Biden administration,” he said. “Even if we didn’t win, we slowed them down.”
He argued it wasn’t an “accident” that two former Biden administration Department of Justice attorneys were among the team prosecuting him for the alleged corruption and other charges.
During the interview, Paxton also argued that some of the biggest issues affecting the state of Texas – vote fraud and illegal immigration – aren’t getting proper attention in Washington, D.C.
According to Paxton, illegal immigration has turned into a “massive invasion” that’s been “devastating to my state.”
But even illegal immigration isn’t as large of a priority as ensuring the integrity of elections, he explained, since every other public policy is first contingent on the ability of voters to elect their own representatives.
However, he said he was stymied in his efforts to preserve election integrity when the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals struck down a 1951 law directing the state AG to investigate vote fraud.
He said that if Republicans lose power in the Texas Democrats will push the Lone Star State to become like California, including implementing “completely unreliable” mail-in ballots.
“I think for anybody that cares about democracy, whether you’re a Republican or a Democrat, [election integrity] should be the number one thing,” Paxton said. “And for the media to constantly shut down the conversation about this, and for social media companies, technology companies to shut down the conversation, tells me that there’s a reason they don’t want us talking about it.”
Paxton, who fought against the widespread distribution of mail-in ballots in his state in the 2020 election, said he’s now facing backlash from the state bar association for allegedly filing a “frivolous” lawsuit after he asked the Supreme Court to consider whether other states had violated their own laws by loosening up voting regulations in the general election.
“It’s insane how you get treated for even bringing it up, when in reality I don’t think there’s a more important issue,” he said.
READ: Texas asks Supreme Court to toss 4 states’ election results over illegal mail ballots
Despite undergoing the ordeal of the impeachment trial, Paxton is not dispirited about going back to work.
“I am so excited about going back,” he said. “I’m re-energized to do the things that I think the voters sent me to do.”
“If we don’t fight now, we’re going to lose,” the attorney general told Carlson. “If we lose Texas, we lose everything.”