President Donald Trump said he doesn’t regret his endorsement of Texas Senate nominee Ken Paxton, despite recent audio leaks of the candidate bemoaning the state of his campaign.
“No, no, no, not at all. He was a great attorney general. I think he’ll be a great senator,” Trump told the Washington Examiner while speaking in the Oval Office.
“Ken Paxton was a great — he was considered the best, or certainly one of the few best, but the best attorney general of the whole country — and now I would have no regrets at all,” the president continued.
At least three audio recordings of Paxton have leaked to the press. In the first recording, Paxton was heard telling donors and lobbyists that the Republican National Committee’s midterm convention hurt his poll numbers.
“So to be honest with you, the numbers — when we did that convention — it dropped our numbers,” Paxton said, according to the New York Times. “Everybody’s numbers dropped. Right now, yeah, not good.”
Trump defended the convention as “amazing” in response to Paxton’s comments.
Then another audio recording showed Paxton claiming that Washington controlled his Texas-based campaign.
“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 said, according to Politico.
On Wednesday, Axios reported that Paxton told donors and lobbyists that the Iran war was dragging down his campaign.
“It’s not tariffs. … It’s the war, it’s gas prices, it’s diesel,” said Paxton in the leaked audio.
“When it’s over $6 per gallon for diesel… people are feeling the pinch,” he continued.
REPUBLICANS WELCOME TRUMP’S HELP, JUST NOT IN BATTLEGROUNDS
The Cook Political Report rates the Texas Senate race between Paxton and Democrat James Talarico as a toss-up.
Trump will stump for Paxton in Texas Wednesday night, his second time in two weeks as the GOP furiously works to boost him. The president’s backing was instrumental in Paxton’s victory over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) in the Republican primary runoff earlier this year.
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[ H/T Washington Examiner ]
