‘He Wants Me to Lose:’ Paxton Shares Scathing Anecdote About Cornyn in New Leaked Audio

AP Photo/Julio Cortez, Jack Myer

In yet another piece of leaked audio, Texas State Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) recalls a withering anecdote about former Senate rival John Cornyn that reveals the outgoing Senator allegedly wants his party to lose the key contest for Congress.

Paxton, 63, has been dogged by snippets of recordings from a recent fundraiser that have revealed his privately shared thoughts about everything from President Donald Trump’s war in Iran to Paxton’s claim that his Senate campaign is being controlled by Washington, D.C.

In the latest recording, Paxton talks about the 74-year-old Cornyn — who was first elected to Congress in 2002 but lost a primary to the scandal-plagued Paxton after Trump endorsed the latter.

“He’s clearly not helping me; he wants me to lose,” Paxton can be heard in the clip obtained by CNN’s Patrick Svitek.

Paxton then tells a story about a man who saw Cornyn and his wife at a restaurant just three days earlier, and decided to pay for the couple’s dessert.

“I’ll tell you a story that just happened three nights ago,” Paxton is heard saying on the tape from the Sept. 24 event in Washington.

“A friend of mine was in Cafe Pacific, a restaurant in Dallas, and he ended up at a table next to Cornyn. And so he told the waiter I want to buy his dinner, and the waiter thinks somebody already did.

“He said OK. But he said his wife’s birthday, they didn’t buy dessert. So my friend bought dessert. Cornyn called over to shake his hand. He got kind of in his face almost and said, ‘Thanks for the dessert,’ and my friend said, ‘Well, you know, I just want to thank you for your service, for all your years of service to Texas.’

“He goes, ‘I realize it’s hard to lose an election, but it shows a lot of character that you’re supporting the ticket and you’re supporting Ken Paxton,'” Paxton said on the tape.

“And he — Cornyn’s face went red. He backed off and he said, ‘Paxton’s gonna lose. We need to teach those Republicans a lesson. It’s going to be hard to learn, but they need to know that their decisions have consequences. We need to make sure they understand it.’ That’s what he’s trying to do. That’s John Cornyn,” Paxton proclaimed.

Paxton has been in a surprisingly tight race with Democrat James Talarico.

Cornyn’s reps denied the incident to CNN and did not provide a comment to Mediaite.

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