AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite; AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez
- The senior-most US senator from Texas is in an online spat with state Attorney General Ken Paxton.
- Paxton took umbrage Tuesday morning to Sen. John Cornyn's supporting vote on a recent foreign aid bill.
- The two have beefed for years, at least in part from the attorney general's various scandals.
One of Texas' highest-ranking state officials squabbling with the state's senior-most senator in Congress over a $95 billion foreign aid bill.
US Sen. John Cornyn was one of 22 Senate Republicans who voted in support of a bill Monday night to send funding to Ukraine and Israel, leading to harsh backlash from Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
"Unbelievable that @JohnCornyn would stay up all night to defend other countries borders, but not America," Paxton wrote on X.
Hours later, not done attacking the senator online, Paxton continued, calling Cornyn an "America Last RINO" who "once again joined hands with the Biden administration to fund and prioritize foreign wars over the national security crisis at the southern border."
Responding to Paxton's attacks, Cornyn brought up Paxton's ongoing legal troubles surrounding allegations he fired four people who had reported him to federal authorities for misusing his office. The lawsuit led state legislators to file articles of impeachment against Paxton in 2023, and the state senate later acquitted him.
But the court case remains. Earlier in the year, a district judge said that Paxton had to testify under oath on the matter by February 1 of this year. The judge made her ruling one day after Paxton said he'd stop contesting the lawsuit now that the impeachment inquiry has ended, an announcement that's since led to at least one state legislator to try to reopen the case.
"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 tweeted.
Paxton's online jabs at Cornyn Tuesday morning weren't his first.
In mid-2022, after Cornyn told reporters Paxton's slew of scandals was "a source of embarrassment," the attorney general tweeted he wasn't surprised by the snide remarks.
"He represents the Bush wing of the GOP," Paxton wrote at the time. "I'll never relate to Senator Cornyn's ability to compromise with radical Senate Democrats in DC."
The foreign aid bill at the root of Tuesday's e-kerfuffle may have passed in the Senate, however, it may all be for naught after Speaker of the House Mike Johnson rejected it in a statement Monday night.