Trump’s Texas Anger as 12 Suspects Eyed in ‘MAGA Mole’ Hunt

A dozen Republicans assembled at a high-profile event in Washington, DC. Among them, however, was someone secretly recording the conversation.

Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general and Republican nominee in November’s Senate race, was speaking candidly with donors when he made a remark that reverberated through the White House and the GOP.

Paxton said Donald Trump’s Republican convention in Dallas had damaged the party.

“Everybody’s numbers dropped,” he said. “Yeah. Not good.” By Wednesday, the private comments had been leaked to The New York Times.

The following day, Trump traveled to Texas to campaign alongside Paxton before his showdown with Democrat James Talarico in a battleground contest that could prove pivotal to the midterm elections.

“We have to win this election,” Trump told reporters when asked why he was returning to Texas.

The remarkable chain of events has laid bare an intensifying Republican feud. Paxton’s allies accuse establishment figures of attempting to sabotage their own nominee, while sources in Trump’s political circle are openly questioning whether he can prevail.

Privately, senior Republicans say Paxton would probably lose if the election were held today.

People close to Trump describe Paxton as undisciplined and lackluster, raising fears that he could receive one of the president’s most damaging political labels: “low-energy.”

Paxton’s allies insist the leak was intentional, arguing that a Republican at the event deliberately sought to weaken a candidate already burdened by an affair and an impeachment scandal.

Republicans have won every US Senate election in Texas since 1988, while no Democrat has won statewide office there since 1994.

Still, mounting concerns that Talarico could pull off a stunning upset on November 3 have led the GOP to spend $100 million defending the seat.

Asked about the leaked remarks on Wednesday, Trump did not criticize Paxton. Instead, he dismissed the comments and maintained that his convention had been “amazing.”

Paxton supporters were relieved, but Republican sources told Our News Outlet that he should not take Trump’s response as a guarantee of lasting support.

The leaked recording has only heightened Trump’s concerns about Paxton, a former White House adviser told Our News Outlet, acknowledging that the president has never viewed him as a favored political candidate.

Trump has publicly teased Paxton over his clothing and speaking style, even as he recognizes that the Texas attorney general retains support among some of the president’s most loyal MAGA voters in the state.

Paxton also gained Trump’s loyalty after filing a Supreme Court lawsuit challenging the 2020 presidential election. He argued that states won by Joe Biden had undemocratically altered voting rules to benefit Democrats.

Now, however, Paxton is at risk of losing as he struggles to raise funds, participate in interviews and organize campaign events.

Democrat Senate candidate James Talarico has conducted 94 events during the senate campaign and Paxton has only held just 34, according to the VoteHub political tracker. 

‘Everyone knows that Paxton is a very lazy candidate. He just doesn’t campaign, I don’t think he’s been in a debate for over a decade,’ one Republican political operative told Our News Outlet.

The fact that Paxton was holding a fundraiser and talking to donors was a positive sign, sources said, but the leaked comments prove he is still undisciplined.

‘Everyone should know that if you make controversial comments at a fundraiser it’s going to go public,’ one Republican donor said. ‘Mitt Romney’s 47 percent moment taught everyone that.’

The donor, however, argued that the audio published by the New York Times was ‘awkward’ but ‘overblown.’

‘It’s not like he’s sh*tting on Trump, he was just trying to pivot out of a question,’ the donor said. ‘I don’t think Trump’s going to make a big deal out of it.’

One Republican operative told Our News Outlet there was ‘no chance’ of Trump pulling his support or MAGA Inc from Paxton.

‘Trump’s probably furious, but he’s not likely to go off message right now,’ he said. 

But on Thursday when Trump took the podium, he called Paxton a ‘pain in the a** sometimes’ before searching for him in the crowd. ‘I didn’t even know if he was here,’ Trump exclaimed. ‘I don’t care.’

Paxton supporters had hoped that after the Texas attorney general beat Cornyn soundly in the primary, Republicans would rally to support him.

But every day they are reminded that establishment Republicans would rather lose a senate seat in Texas rather than see Paxton succeed, one source told Our News Outlet. 

Former President George W Bush attended a fundraiser in the state last week with Cornyn for the sake of raising money for Senate Republicans. Paxton, however, was specifically excluded.

Bush’s former strategist Karl Rove also complained publicly last week that Paxton was ‘corrupt’ and that he was hearing every day from Texas Senator Ted Cruz and others that he was in real danger of losing.

‘If John Cornyn were the nominee, this race would be over,’ Rove lamented. 

If Paxton loses, MAGA sources told Our News Outlet, it would restore the political status quo in the state to forces aligned with Bush and Rove.

Paxton allies are encouraged by recent signs that campaign spending has lifted his poll numbers even with Talarico in recent weeks, one source told Our News Outlet, leaving Republicans more confident in his chances.

The effort by Trump and the Republican party to label Talarico as weird and out of touch, one source said, would soon pay off. 

‘We’re not losing this Senate race,’ a Republican operative said. ‘The base is more forgiving of this s**t and it’s not like they are now going to vote for Talarico.’