On Sept. 5, the Texas Senate will put Attorney General Ken Paxton on trial for charges related to bribery, abuse of office, and obstruction – an occasion welcomed by many Texans with a song in their heart and a bag of popcorn at the ready. Well, turns out the entertainment won’t stop there.
Members of the prosecution team – star attorneys Dick DeGuerin and Rusty Hardin and former Texas Supreme Court Justice Harriet O’Neill – are booked for a panel at the upcoming Texas Tribune Festival, to take place mere days after Paxton’s impeachment trial will have wrapped. They’re but three of more than 270 speakers announced for this year’s TribFest, a three-day chewing-over of politics, policy, and civic-mindedness taking part in Downtown Austin.
More boldfaced names on the lineup:
• Ted Cruz, the polarizing junior senator from Texas, noted Cancun enthusiast (who incidentally declared the GOP-led Texas Legislature’s process to impeach Paxton “a travesty”)
• Former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, D-Arizona, who survived an assassination attempt in 2011, and her husband, U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly, D-Arizona, in conversation with Katie Couric for a taping of her Next Question podcast
• CNN anchor and chief Washington correspondent Jake Tapper, whose political thriller All the Demons Are Here was published in July
• A panel on the state of abortion – Abortion and the States – with New York Magazine’s Rebecca Traister, Texas state Sen. Carol Alvarado, D-Houston, and state Rep. Nicole Collier, D-Fort Worth
• A climate conversation called The Heat is On with president of Stoic Energy Consulting Doug Lewin, climate scientist Andrew Dessler, environmental writer Naveena Sadasivam, and former Mayor of Greenville, Heather McTeer Toney
The Texas Tribune Festival runs Sept. 21-23. Head to the TribFest home for the complete lineup and ticket info.
This article appears in August 4 • 2023.
