A former House Republican leader tore into Texas Senate nominee Ken Paxton for turning on the president he said created him.
Former Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC) made the remarks on CNN Wednesday after Kasie Hunt revisited President Donald Trump mocking Paxton at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas earlier this month. The New York Times has since obtained leaked audio in which Paxton suggests the convention hurt his campaign.
"To be honest with you, the numbers, when we did that convention, we dropped our numbers," Paxton said in the recording when asked whether Trump was a drag on the race. "Right now, yeah, not good."
McHenry did not hold back.
"Paxton was made and invented by Donald Trump. It was his savior," McHenry said. "It got him through being impeached as attorney general. It got him the nomination to be senator. Without Donald Trump, he's nothing. He's nothing."
McHenry added, "This guy is so stupid that he's biting the hand that invented him."
McHenry argued Paxton should be thanking Trump rather than complaining.
"He should say, with enormous gratitude, that he's grateful for the president making fun of the way he looks and the way he dresses, as he should, because he wouldn't be even considered in this stage of the election cycle," McHenry said.
He called the episode "astronomically stupid" and predicted "we'll be talking about this as one of the dumbest moments in a really bad election cycle."
McHenry also agreed with GOP strategist Karl Rove, who said in a clip played by Hunt that "if John Cornyn were the nominee, this race would be over." Rove pointed to allegations about Paxton's personal life and home renovations tied to a business associate, asking, "Can you make this s— up?" Rove also claimed that Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Paxton himself had reached out to say the campaign was losing.
McHenry blamed Cornyn's "hubris" for running for reelection despite being unpopular with Texas Republicans, who he said turned against the senator over immigration and guns.
Paxton's campaign dismissed The Times report in a statement to CNN, calling it "more manipulated nonsense from The New York Times to create a story that doesn't exist." The campaign said its latest internal poll shows Paxton leading by three points and that he "looks forward to closing strong alongside President Trump when he comes to Texas this week."