The Texas Senate voted on Saturday to acquit suspended attorney general Ken Paxton of all charges leveled against him after the state House impeached him back in May.

Paxton has been on trial in the Texas Senate for two weeks over allegations of corruption and abuse of public office. The House team responsible for prosecuting the case against the attorney general alleged Paxton did favors for Austin real estate developer and campaign backer Nate Paul as Paul was being investigated by the FBI.

Paxton stood trial on 16 articles of impeachment that each required a two-thirds majority to pass in a Republican-controlled chamber. He was not convicted on any of the charges brought against him.

Attorney Tony Buzbee defended Paxton general during the trial, which Paxton was largely absent from except for the opening and closing arguments. Buzbee said that the case against Paxton was being pushed for political reasons.

“This is a political trial,” Buzbee said, according to the Associated Press. “I would suggest to you it’s a political witch hunt.”

The impeachment managers alleged that Paxton accepted bribes from Paul, one in the form of an agreement to hire Paxton’s alleged mistress. Paul also allegedly renovated Paxton’s home. In exchange, Paxton allegedly aided Paul when he was under investigation by the FBI.

Prosecutors brought in various former members of Paxton’s office and staff to testify against the attorney general. Several former prosecutors who worked for the attorney general reported Paxton to the FBI in 2020 over the attorney general’s connections with Paul.

“He hasn’t even bothered to be here for the whole trial,” Republican state Rep. Andrew Murr said in the trial’s final day. “Clearly he thinks he might get away with this.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILYWIRE+ APP

Paxton’s alleged mistress, Laura Olson, was expected to testify on Wednesday, and was one of the most anticipated voices of the trial. She arrived at the Capitol on Wednesday during the trial, but Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick, who oversaw the trial, announced that Olson was “unavailable to testify” in a statement that he said both sides had agreed upon.

Paxton’s wife, Republican state Sen. Angela Paxton, watched the trial from her seat in the chamber but was barred from participating and voting in the verdict because of her conflict of interest.

Kansas will no longer allow people to change the gender on their birth certificate after Republicans passed a law enshrining the biological definition of woman into law. 

The state’s health department was compelled to follow the law after Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach sued to stop state agencies from allowing people who say they are transgender to be able to change the gender on public documents. 

After a legal back and forth, Kobach won in court, and the Kansas Department of Health and Environment said on Friday that it could “no longer process gender identity amendments to birth certificates.” 

The health department said that birth certificates previously given out with changed gender would not need to be updated unless the individual needed to get a new one. 

“If KDHE previously changed your birth certificate to align with your gender identity, that birth certificate is still valid; however, if a certified copy of that record is requested, then the new copy must reflect the sex assigned at birth,” the department said. 

Kobach said that he was “pleased” with the decision and that it was necessary to comply with Kansas law. 

“The intent of [the Kansas legislature] was clear when lawmakers passed the Women’s Bill of Rights. KS birth certificates are state records that must reflect scientific fact as recorded by the doctor at the time of birth,” Kobach posted on X. 

Kobach was referring to a state law passed earlier this year — called the Women’s Bill of Rights — that defines men and women on the basis of their “biological reproductive system.” 

According to the law, a “female” is “an individual whose biological reproductive system is developed to produce ova” and a “mother” is” a parent of the female sex.” The law also stipulates that “woman” and “girl” refer to biological females. 

The law says that state entities that collect “vital statistics for the purpose of complying with anti-discrimination laws or for the purpose of gathering accurate public health, crime, economic or other data shall identify each person who is part of the collected data set as either male or female at birth.”

CLICK HERE TO GET THE DAILY WIRE APP

Democrat Governor Laura Kelly vetoed the bill, saying it “stripp[ed] away rights” and would “hurt our ability to continue … landing new business deals.” The Republican-controlled legislature overrode her veto, with the law going into effect July 1.

Kelly said in  a statement on Friday that she disagreed with the policy but would allow the law to be enforced. 

“As I’ve said before, the state should not discriminate or encroach into Kansans’ personal lives,” Kelly said in a statement. “However, I am committed to following the law. Agencies will comply with the courts’ orders and work to implement S.B. 180 as appropriate.”