More controversial audio of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton at a Washington fundraiser has leaked, revealing the Senate candidate’s thoughts on what to cut in the federal budget.
The latest audio leak comes after Paxton, whom Trump endorsed, was caught blaming the president’s war in Iran for “dragging” on his campaign at the same private event last month.
When asked about reducing the federal deficit, Paxton told lobbyists and donors, “Making some reasonable cuts to mandatory spending — you’re gonna have to do it. Or there is no solution. That’s just the reality. We have to suck it up,” according to the new audio recording obtained by The Texas Tribune.
Mandatory spending — which is comprised of programs like Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid — makes up the bulk of the federal budget. In the 2025 fiscal year, the government spent $4.2 trillion on such programs, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Paxton blamed both Republican and Democratic presidents for the “crazy” spending, which he warned will “bankrupt” the U.S., according to the recording.
It’s unclear which programs Paxton believes should be cut, but he has insisted that he wouldn’t touch Social Security.
“Seniors worked their entire lives and paid into Social Security with every paycheck. They earned these benefits, and Washington has no business cutting them,” Paxton said in a statement to AARP last month. “I’ll fight to protect Social Security for today’s retirees and keep that promise for our children and grandchildren.”
In response to the new recording, Paxton accused the media of cherry-picking his words.
“The fake news keeps spinning the same cherry-picked audio to mislead Texans and take my words out of context. I have never said I would take away entitlements from those who deserve or earned them,” Paxton said in a statement shared with The Independent.
Paxton said JD Vance’s crackdown on alleged government fraud could help the federal debt.
“I've also said either we keep spending ourselves into mountains of debt, or we find a way to cut spending. The Vice President's effort to combat fraud has been one major way to do it,” the attorney general’s statement read.
Paxton also bashed his opponent, Democrat James Talarico, who wants giant corporations and the wealthiest Americans to pay more taxes.
“Texans aren't going to hand a Senate seat to a politician who treats their paychecks as a piggy bank for his radical agenda,” the Republican said.
In another audio clip from Paxton’s D.C. event unveiled Wednesday, the politician was asked what issues were “dragging” on his campaign.
"It's not tariffs. ... It's the war, it's gas prices, it's diesel," according to the recording obtained by Axios. The Iran war, which has caused energy prices to skyrocket, remains unpopular with the American people.
The Senate hopeful said affordability — an issue Democrats have been winning races on — is “by far our biggest problem" and "why we're having a hard time with numbers."
Paxton’s campaign told Axios it was a “non-story” and that Trump “ is doing everything he can to bring prices down,” which the Texas Republican would help with if elected.
Later that night, Trump and Paxton gushed over each other at a rally the president held in San Antonio.
“Ken Paxton...he is perhaps the greatest attorney general in the United States of America,” Trump told his supporters. “He’s a fantastic man and what a job he’s done.”
When Trump later brought Paxton on to the stage, the Texas attorney general said, “The thing I love about President Trump is he's here for us. He's here for Texas. He's here for America. He believes in this country. He’s out fighting every day.”
But there have also been times when Trump publicly mocked Paxton.
During the two-day GOP convention in Dallas, the president insulted the Senate candidate’s fashion sense, telling the crowd during his keynote address, “He may not dress right. He may not talk exactly perfectly, and he may not be the best-looking guy I've ever seen, but you know what he is? He's the greatest Attorney General in America, and he deserves to be your next senator.”
Trump also threw a jab at Paxton after the first audio clip from the attorney general’s fundraiser, where he slammed the president’s midterm convention, was uncovered.
"He can be a pain in the ass sometimes, I'll be honest,” the president said during a visit to a truck factory in Denton, Texas, earlier this month.
A day before, The New York Times published an audio recording it obtained from the fundraiser, in which Paxton said, “To be honest with you, the numbers — when we did that convention — it dropped our numbers. Everybody’s numbers dropped. Right now, yeah, not good.”
Paxton is in a tight race with Talarico, as are several Republicans in other red states where GOP candidates would typically easily win.
Among likely Texas voters, Paxton and Talarico are tied at 45 percent support, according to a new UMass Lowell/YouGov poll.
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