NOW PLAYING
Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) says he no longer talks regularly with President Trump after losing his primary to a Trump-backed opponent last month, and that the president “seems to revel in chaos.”
In an interview with the digital news outlet Semafor, Cornyn said that talking to Trump is no longer useful and criticized the administration’s recent moves to delay a nomination for the director of national intelligence (DNI) role.
“The president seems to revel in chaos, which is so different from any other leader that I’ve ever seen. I don’t know about you, but I like to minimize the chaos in my life,” Cornyn said. “He just seems to revel in it. We’ve seen even recent evidence of it on the DNI.”
Trump is holding up the confirmation process for a new director, which, in turn, is delaying the reauthorization of a law that allows U.S. intelligence agencies to spy on foreign threats. Cornyn and other Republicans, especially a handful who are retiring or have lost their primaries to Trump-backed opponents, have spoken against the delay and called for swift confirmation of nominee Jay Clayton.
Cornyn has also become more vocal about his disagreements with the administration on a host of issues since losing his primary, and he has begun to use political leverage to get victories for his state of Texas in the Senate as his time there winds down. In the interview with Semafor, Cornyn said he recently threatened to withhold his valuable vote on a party-line immigration enforcement funding package until Senate leaders pushed the White House to release reimbursement money for Texas’s border security spending.
“That’s one example I think of what you can do when you have some cards to play,” Cornyn said.
As the Senate works through more Republican priorities before the midterms, the ire of Cornyn and the other Republicans who have become more willing to push back against Trump could make it harder to push the GOP agenda across the finish line.
Add as preferred source on Google Tags Jay Clayton John CornynCopyright 2026 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Comments: Link copiedMore Senate News
See All
News This week on the Hill: FISA negotiations at a standstill after Clayton hearing delayed by Sudiksha Kochi 4 hours ago News / 4 hours ago 
