Trump-mocked Texas Senate hopeful bites the hand that feeds him in leaked clip
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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was heard complaining about a lack of “control” over his Senate campaign, which he admitted was being run by Washington, D.C., amid tensions with President Donald Trump.
The leaked audio recording of Paxton’s private remarks at the fundraising lunch on Sept. 24, obtained by Politico, comes just 30 days before the midterm elections and after he criticized Trump’s convention in Dallas last month.
“I’ve never been in a race where I felt less control over the campaign and, like, what issues are going to matter because it’s all coming — you know — from D.C.,” Paxton told conservative donors and lobbyists at the small event. “I don’t control message or what we’re doing.”
The GOP Senate candidate added that securing votes from Texans “comes down to your messaging, which in a federal race comes from other people a lot of times, which you don’t control.”
Paxton did not explicitly refer to Trump’s team controlling his campaign, but “everybody knew what he was talking about,” an attendee told Politico.
Nick Maddux, Paxton’s campaign adviser, told The Independent that the Senate hopeful was referring to super PACs. “AG Paxton is thankful for the support and knows how important Texas is to keeping the majority which is why he’s on the ground every day talking to Texas, raising money, and taking his message directly to the people including with his statewide television buy that started over this past weekend,” Maddux added.
Trump endorsed Paxton during his acrimonious primary battle against incumbent GOP Sen. John Cornyn in May. He has recently released $20 million from his MAGA Inc super PAC to help him beat James Talarico, a rising star of the Democratic Party who is now 6 points ahead, according to the latest New York Times/Siena poll.
Since endorsing Paxton, Trump has publicly lashed out at the Republican, calling him a “pain in the ass” at an event in Denton, Texas. The attack came after Paxton blasted the president’s midterm convention in Dallas last month.
“To be honest with you, the numbers — when we did that convention — it dropped our numbers. Everybody’s numbers dropped. Right now, yeah, not good,” Paxton said during the same private Washington fundraiser, according to an audio recording previously obtained by The New York Times.
Paxton’s adviser dismissed the story as “manipulated nonsense.”
During both nights of the GOP convention, Trump insulted Paxton over his fashion sense.
“And I said something yesterday, and I don't know if he'll ever talk to me again…My people said, ‘Please don't say that.’ So I won't say it, but I'll tell you what I was thinking about saying,” Trump said during his closing address on Sept.10.
“I said, ‘I don't like the way Ken dresses.’ Although I also said he looked really sharp in that suit yesterday,” Trump said. “I thought it was spiffy.”
The night before, Trump told the crowd that Paxton “may not be the best-looking guy I've ever seen, but you know what he is? He's the greatest Attorney General in America, and he deserves to be your next senator.”
