Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) blasted Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton for his criticism of the senator’s vote on the Senate foreign aid bill, the latest display of Republican infighting over border security and foreign funding.
The Senate passed the foreign aid supplemental bill early Tuesday morning with the help of Cornyn and 21 other Senate Republicans, many of whom are national security hawks or military veterans.
In a post on X, Paxton slammed Cornyn’s “yes” vote, claiming it is “unbelievable that [John Cornyn] would stay up all night to defend other countries borders, but not America.”
Cornyn hit back at the attorney general, telling him he should be more concerned about his vast legal problems than commenting on his vote. Paxton is set to appear on Friday in Houston court, in which he has pleaded not guilty to two felony fraud charges for allegedly courting investors into a Collin County tech company without disclosing that he was being compensated for the work. He could face up to 99 years in prison if convicted.
“Ken, your criminal defense lawyers are calling to suggest you spend less time pushing Russian propaganda and more time defending longstanding felony charges against you in Houston, as well as ongoing federal grand jury proceedings in San Antonio that will probably result in further criminal charges,” Cornyn wrote on X.
Paxton also faces other legal challenges, including a whistleblower lawsuit regarding a federally indicted real estate investor and an ethics complaint alleging that he lied to the Supreme Court about Texas having widespread election fraud in the 2020 election.
Paxton was acquitted by the state Senate on all 16 impeachment articles related to accusations of bribery, disregard of duty, and dereliction of duty. The failure to convict Paxton on any of the charges was a huge blow to the House Republican members who brought the case.
Tuesday’s Senate vote comes after a bipartisan agreement combining Ukraine aid and border security failed in the upper chamber. The bill passed Tuesday morning without any border provisions.
The foreign aid bill includes $60 billion in aid for Ukraine, $14 billion for Israel, $9 billion in humanitarian aid for Gaza, the West Bank, and Ukraine, and $4.8 billion to deter Chinese aggression in the Indo-Pacific. The House will now take up the supplemental funding bill, and Republicans have expressed their disapproval.
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As Texas faces the brunt of the growing influx of immigrants crossing the southern border, the Lone Star State GOP leaders, including Paxton, have been vocal in calling for strict border security. Paxton joined 15 attorneys general in a letter to the Senate objecting to the Senate border legislation, saying that it failed to solve the problem of a high volume of encounters.
In January, the Supreme Court granted the Biden administration’s request to overturn a ruling that left razor wire along the southern border. A few days later, Paxton forcefully rejected a request from the administration to grant federal immigration officials full access to Shelby Park, which the state National Guard sealed off with razor wire.
