Cornyn Blasts Mike Lee After 7-Month Exit Clock Starts With Texas Primary Loss
Updated
Updated · POLITICO · Jun 12
Cornyn Blasts Mike Lee After 7-Month Exit Clock Starts With Texas Primary Loss
2 articles · Updated · POLITICO · Jun 12
Summary
Seven months before leaving office, John Cornyn publicly escalated his break with GOP allies, calling a conservative influencer a “grifter” and telling Mike Lee to stop blaming Republicans for the SAVE America Act’s failure.
On X, Cornyn told Lee “you don’t have the votes” and said John Thune could not change that, arguing that “Republican on Republican attacks” are hurting the party’s chances of winning the majority in November.
Lee pushed back by questioning whether Cornyn himself wrote the post, but Cornyn is known for handling his own account and has spent the week warning Republicans to “stop the circular firing squad.”
Last month’s primary loss to Ken Paxton — after Donald Trump endorsed Paxton late in the runoff — appears to have freed Cornyn to challenge Trump and the party more openly on what he calls overreach or bad ideas.
In a New York Times interview, Cornyn said Trump’s demand for “slavish adherence” could backfire in the midterms and leave him facing “the most miserable two years of his life” if Democrats flip either chamber.