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Texas AG Ken Paxton announces run for US Senate
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced on Fox News’ The Ingraham Angle Tuesday night that he will run for the U.S. Senate.
The announcement comes as Paxton no longer faces the cloud of a federal corruption investigation that loomed over him as he rose up the ranks in the Republican Party.
The announcement by Paxton, a close ally of President Donald Trump and a MAGA firebrand, comes two weeks after Republican Sen. John Cornyn officially launched his re-election campaign as he bids for a fifth six-year term serving Texas in the Senate.
«It’s time for a change in Texas,» Paxton told Fox News’ Laura Ingraham, before acknowledging Sen. Ted Cruz, Texas’ other Republican senator. «It’s time that we have another great senator that will actually stand up and fight for Republican values, fight for the values of the people of Texas and also support Donald Trump in the areas that he’s focused on in a very significant way.»
EXTRAMARITAL AFFAIR DETAILS SURFACE IN HISTORIC IMPEACHMENT TRIAL OF TEXAS AG KEN PAXTON
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks at a news conference in Dallas, June 22, 2017. On Tuesday, Paxton announced that he will run for the U.S. Senate. (AP Photo/Tony Gutierrez, File)
On Sunday, Cornyn said he was looking forward to «the competition» amid rumors of Paxton’s candidacy.
«Ken Paxton is a fraud,» Cornyn’s campaign charged in a social media post after Paxton’s announcement. «He talks tough on crime and then lets crooked progressive Lina Hidalgo off the hook. He says his impeachment trial was a sham but he didn’t contest the facts in legal filings which will cost the state millions.»
TEXAS AG PAXTON ACQUITTED ON ALL IMPEACHMENT CHARGES: ‘THE TRUTH PREVAILED’
«He says he’s anti-woke but he funnels millions of taxpayer dollars to lawyers who celebrate DEI,» the post continued. «And Ken claims to be a man of faith but uses fake Uber accounts to meet his girlfriend and deceive his family.»
Cornyn’s campaign noted that the incumbent senator has voted with Trump more than 95% of current senators. Trump and Texas need a «battle-tested conservative» who knows how to protect his agenda in the Senate and won’t be outsmarted by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and the Democrats, the campaign said.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and U.S. Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas. (Fox News Digital)
The announcement from Paxton puts the gears in motion for what may be an extremely expensive and bruising GOP primary battle, pitting the remaining establishment and business factions of the Republican Party versus the ascendant MAGA wing.
«It sets the table for the most expensive primary in Texas. It will be a brutal battle,» veteran Republican strategist Dave Carney told Fox News. Carney, the longtime top political adviser to Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, noted that the announcement by Paxton also «opens up the attorney general’s race. There will probably be a very competitive primary for that and we’re going to have a lot of musical chairs down ballot.»
Matt Mackowiak, a veteran Republican strategist and communications consultant based in Texas and Washington, D.C., said «this is going to be the most expensive, nastiest, most aggressive, most personal U.S. Senate primary in Texas history.»
«You have two candidates who are going to raise significant funds, who are in significant positions, who do not like each and have not liked each other, whose teams do not like each other and the stakes could not be higher,» he emphasized.
WILL DEMOCRATS ONCE AGAIN CHASE THE ‘GHOST OF A BLUE TEXAS’ IN NEXT YEAR’S SENATE RACE?
Paxton’s announcement was not a huge surprise, as he has long claimed Cornyn does not represent the conservative values of Texans and has accused the senator of not being an ally of Trump.
He has also regularly labeled Cornyn a «RINO,» a «Republican in name only» and an insult MAGA and «America First» Republicans have regularly used to criticize more mainstream or establishment members of the GOP.
Paxton, who has been Texas’ top prosecutor since 2015, has regularly criticized his GOP rival, pointing to Cornyn’s position on a border wall and opposing Trump during the 2016 election.
Cornyn also previously came under criticism from conservatives after he helped push a bipartisan gun control bill after the 2022 mass shooting at a Uvalde, Texas elementary school that killed 19 students and two teachers.
Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton at his primary night celebration, on March 1, 2022, in McKinney, Texas. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
Paxton, for a couple of years, had flirted with a primary challenge against the 73-year-old Cornyn, a former state senator, former Texas Supreme Court justice, and former state attorney general, who first won election to the U.S. Senate in 2002.
FACING POSSIBLE PRIMARY CHALLNGE FROM A TRUMP ALLY, LONGTIME TEXAS SENATOR ANNOUNCES RE-ELECTION
«I can’t think of a single thing he’s accomplished for our state or even for the country,» Paxton said in a September 2023 interview on the Fox News Channel. «Somebody needs to step up and run against this guy,» adding, «everything’s on the table for me.»
Fast-forward to earlier this year, and Paxton, at a county GOP meeting in Texas, told supporters that one of the things «we need to do, and I might play a role in this, is replace John Cornyn in the U.S. Senate.»
And in a Fox News Digital interview in January, Paxton acknowledged that he was «looking potentially at the U.S. Senate.»
Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks at an event outside the Texas Statehouse, on Feb. 28, 2022 in Austin. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
Cornyn, during the early stages of the 2024 Republican presidential nomination race, had said he would prefer that the GOP take a new direction, which angered Trump. But the senator endorsed Trump in late January of last year, after the then-former president won both the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary, the first two contests in the Republican presidential nomination calendar.
Since Trump returned to the White House three months ago, Cornyn has been supportive of the president’s Cabinet nominees and agenda.
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And in the senator’s campaign launch video last month, the announcer highlighted that during Trump’s first term in office, «Texas Sen. John Cornyn had his back.»
As he gears up for what will most certainly be his roughest re-election of his decades-long career, Cornyn has the backing of the top Republican in the Senate, Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D.
And Republican sources confirm to Fox News that Thune, as well as National Republican Senatorial Committee chair Sen. Tim Scott, have personally asked Trump to back Cornyn.
Sen. John Cornyn speaks during a Senate Finance Committee hearing, on Capitol Hill, March 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)
The president’s grip on the GOP is stronger than ever and any endorsement Trump may make in the emerging Republican Senate primary in Texas would be extremely influential.
Making Cornyn’s path to renomination even more difficult is a possible Senate bid by Rep. Wesley Hunt, who represents a Houston area district.
The third-term 43-year-old Texas Republican and rising MAGA star has made his case to the president’s political team, sources confirm to Fox News. Hunt’s argument is that he’s the only person who can win both a GOP primary and a general election, a source familiar with the discussions confirmed to Fox News.
An outside group supportive of Hunt is currently spending seven figures to run ads across the Lone Star State to increase the lawmaker’s name ID.
CORNYN’S RE-ELECTION CAMPAIGN SPARKS QUESTIONS ON BOTH PARTY FLANKS AS DEMS CHASE ‘THE GHOST OF A BLUE TEXAS’
GOP Rep. Wesley Hunt of Texas headlines the opening of the first Trump campaign office in Pennsylvania, on June 4, 2024, in Philadelphia. (Fox News – Paul Steinhauser)
Some Republican operatives and strategists worry that a primary battle in Texas could cost up to $100 million, potentially diverting much-needed resources from other races.
While Paxton is very popular with the conservative base of the party, it’s not clear at this point what Trump will do regarding the race. And political strategists note that toppling Cornyn in a GOP primary will likely be a very expensive proposition, and it’s not clear if Paxton can raise the money needed for victory.
«This says two things. One, Paxton sees an opportunity. And two, him getting in this early shows he needs the maximum time possible to try to raise money,» Mackowiak said. He added that Paxton «has received some negative feedback on fundraising.»
Paxton grabbed national attention in 2020 for filing the unsuccessful Texas vs. Pennsylvania case in the Supreme Court that tried to overturn former President Joe Biden’s razor-thin win over Trump in the Keystone State, and for speaking at the Trump rally near the White House that immediately preceded the deadly Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol by right-wing extremists aiming to disrupt congressional certification of Biden’s Electoral College victory.
During Biden’s four years in the White House, Paxton took the administration to court numerous times.
While Paxton, who’s in his third four-year term as Texas attorney general, has long been a legal warrior in the MAGA movement, he also has plenty of personal political baggage.
Paxton was indicted on securities fraud charges soon after taking office in 2015, and more recently came under investigation by the FBI over bribery and corruption allegations from former top staffers. And in 2022, he survived a bruising primary amid his many legal difficulties.
In 2023, Paxton was impeached by the Texas House of Representatives, but he was later acquitted of all charges by the state Senate.
The charges in the long-running federal corruption probe were dropped during the final weeks of the Biden administration.
The attorney general also faced an investigation by the Texas State Bar for his efforts to overturn the 2020 election results.
While Paxton for years has denied any wrongdoing and has survived his legal fights, he would likely continue to face tough optics and plenty of incoming fire over his past predicaments during a Senate showdown.
Colin Allred, last year’s Democratic Senate nominee in Texas, speaks at a campaign rally in Houston on Oct. 25. (Reuters/Marco Bello)
The eventual winner of next year’s GOP primary will be considered the favorite in the general election against whomever the Democrats nominate.
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Former Rep. Colin Allred has said he’ll decide by this summer if he’ll mount a 2026 Senate campaign.
Allred, a former Baylor University football player and NFL linebacker who later represented Texas’ 32nd Congressional District (which includes parts of Dallas and surrounding suburbs), was last year’s Democratic challenger in the race against Cruz.
Texas,Senate,US,Congress,Donald Trump,Elections,Politics
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Pair of Democrat lawmakers slam ‘blockade of fuel’ to Cuba, ‘economic bombing’ after visit to island
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Reps. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., and Jonathan Jackson, D-Ill., said after a congressional delegation returned from Cuba that U.S. economic restrictions on the island represented an «illegal U.S. blockade of fuel» and «effectively an economic bombing of the infrastructure of the country.»
The lawmakers, following their five-day delegation to Cuba, spoke out against what they described as a humanitarian crisis on the island that they argue is linked to the U.S. embargo.
«The illegal U.S. blockade of fuel to Cuba—90 miles south of the United States—adds to the longest embargo in world history and is causing untold suffering to the Cuban people,» the lawmakers said in a statement on Sunday. «The United States prevented a single drop of oil from entering Cuba for over three months. This is cruel collective punishment—effectively an economic bombing of the infrastructure of the country—that has produced permanent damage. It must stop immediately.»
US ALLOWS RUSSIAN OIL TANKER TO REACH CUBA AMID BLOCKADE AS TRUMP SAYS ISLAND ‘HAS TO SURVIVE’
Reps. Pramila Jayapal and Jonathan Jackson said after a delegation to Cuba that there was a humanitarian crisis on the island. (Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)
«We witnessed firsthand premature babies in incubators, weighing just two pounds, who are at tremendous risk because their ventilators and incubators cannot function without electricity,» they continued. «Children cannot attend school because there is no fuel for them or their teachers to travel. Cancer patients cannot receive lifesaving treatments because of lack of medications. There is a water shortage because there is little electricity to pump water. Businesses have closed. Families cannot keep food refrigerated, and food production on the island has dropped to just 10 percent of the people’s needs.»
This comes as U.S. President Donald Trump has escalated his pressure campaign on Cuba in recent weeks, calling the island a «failed nation» and suggesting that «Cuba is next» following recent U.S. military actions in Venezuela and Iran.
The trip came after Jayapal and Rep. Gregory Meeks, D-N.Y., introduced legislation to block federal funds for military action against Cuba without congressional approval.
The two lawmakers spoke out against what they described as an «illegal U.S. blockade of fuel» and «effectively an economic bombing of the infrastructure of the country.» (Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Jayapal and Jackson said they spoke with families, religious leaders, entrepreneurs, civil society organizations, the Cuban government, Latin American and African ambassadors, humanitarian aid organizations and Cubans across the political spectrum, including dissidents.
«Across all sectors, there is agreement: this illegal blockade must end immediately. We do not believe that the majority of Americans would want this kind of cruelty and inhumanity to continue in our name,» the lawmakers said.
The pair added that the Cuban government «has sent many signals that this is a new moment for the country.»
«While we were there, President Diaz-Canel released over 2,000 prisoners. The Cuban government has begun to liberalize its economy with significant reforms, including allowing Cuban American entrepreneurs to invest in private businesses in Cuba. Entrepreneurship has grown substantially, with small- and medium-sized private businesses now comprising large parts of the economy,» the statement said.
CUBA RELEASES 2,000 PRISONERS AMID TRUMP PRESSURE, ENERGY CRISIS
U.S. President Donald Trump has escalated his pressure campaign on Cuba in recent weeks. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
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«Significantly, the Cuban government has invited in the FBI to conduct an independent investigation of a lethal speedboat shooting,» it continued. «The remaining obstacles to progress in Cuba now rest with the United States changing our outdated, Cold War-era policy of coercive economic measures and military pressures against Cuba.»
Jayapal and Jackson went on to say that «true reform will only come from charting a new course.»
«The United States and Cuba must immediately enter into real negotiations that provide for the dignity and freedom of the Cuban people and the tremendous benefits to the American people that will accrue from a real collaboration between our two countries,» they concluded.
cuba, world, politics, donald trump, energy
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La increíble historia detrás de “El Principito” y cómo Antoine de Saint-Exupéry lo escribió en Nueva York
La historia detrás de una obra que reflejó el dolor de su autor y un tiempo convulso
A 83 años de su publicación, El Principito permanece como uno de los cinco libros más leídos del mundo. Concebido por Antoine de Saint-Exupéry durante su exilio en Nueva York en la Segunda Guerra Mundial, la obra nació del intento del aviador y escritor francés por hallar alivio personal y distanciarse de la guerra y sus episodios de depresión. La profunda melancolía que embargaba a Saint-Exupéry en esos años —marcada por peleas políticas, crisis personales y la distancia de su esposa Consuelo Suncín, retenida por el conflicto en Europa— resultó el trasfondo emocional y existencial donde germinó la novela.
El deceso del autor, ocurrido tras despegar en una operación aliada el 31 de julio de 1944 en el sur de Francia, amplificó el aura mítica de su obra. La autenticidad de la desaparición de Saint-Exupéry fue confirmada solo en el año 2000, cuando el Estado francés reconoció restos de fuselaje hallados en el Mediterráneo y una pulsera con la inscripción “Consuelo”. La pieza manuscrita original de Le petit Prince, compuesta por 125 páginas mecanografiadas y numerosos borradores, fue entregada antes de esa partida a Sylvia Hamilton, periodista estadounidense con la que mantuvo una relación personal en el exilio, y años después vendida al Museo Biblioteca Morgan en Nueva York, donde permanece actualmente expuesta.
Durante la ocupación nazi de Francia, Saint-Exupéry residía en un departamento elevado del Central Park. Allí, a pesar de su éxito como autor de Tierra de hombres y Piloto de guerra —obras que vendían cientos de miles de ejemplares en Estados Unidos y se publicaban en los principales diarios internacionales—, el escritor vivió uno de los períodos más sombríos de su vida. Conflictos entre franceses exiliados, acusaciones de “traidor” por su desconfianza hacia Charles de Gaulle y la presión de su propia salud, deteriorada por accidentes aéreos previos, sumaron pesadumbre a su existencia.
En ese contexto, la sugerencia de Elizabeth Reynal, esposa de uno de sus editores norteamericanos y traductora ocasional, lo impulsó a canalizar su creatividad hacia un relato destinado a niños. Reynal, según narró en The New York Times el 31 de mayo de 1993 y recogido por biógrafos, notó que Saint-Exupéry dibujaba con frecuencia un niño de cabello rubio y bufanda larga en servilletas y papeles. Tras insistir en que abandonara por unas horas la obsesión por la guerra, el autor dio comienzo esa misma noche a la frase inicial: “Cuando yo tenía seis años una vez vi una lámina magnífica en un libro sobre el Bosque Virgen…”.
En apenas tres meses, Saint-Exupéry completó la narración central del aviador caído en el desierto frente a un pequeño príncipe proveniente de otro planeta. Pese a carecer de formación artística, el autor ilustró la primera edición con pintura en acuarela, seleccionando cuarenta viñetas originales. El escritor suizo Denis de Rougemont, testigo del proceso en los rascacielos de Manhattan, lo describió como “gigante calvo con los ojos redondos de un pájaro exótico… concentrado en aplicar pequeñas pinceladas pueriles”.
El libro, editado inicialmente en inglés como The Little Prince en abril de 1943, tuvo una primera tirada de 30.000 ejemplares; cifra que resultó cautelosa dada la expectativa de que el público estadounidense esperara “otras aventuras aéreas” del célebre piloto y cronista.
Antes de marcharse a Argelia para reincorporarse a la escuadrilla aliada 2/33 —pese a edad y lesiones que teóricamente lo inhabilitaban para volar—, Saint-Exupéry concluyó el prólogo de El Principito. Dedicó la obra a su amigo Léon Werth, justificando así la elección: “Esa persona mayor es el mejor amigo que tengo en el mundo… vive en Francia, donde tiene hambre y frío. Tiene verdadera necesidad de consuelo… Corrijo, pues mi dedicatoria: A Léon Werth, cuando era niño”.
Durante el último año de su vida, el autor luchó infructuosamente para retomar misiones de vuelo. Su prestigio le permitió, tras apelaciones incluso al comandante supremo Dwight Eisenhower, volver a pilotar el P3Lightning, con el que despegó por última vez desde la base aliada en Córcega. Mientras tanto, El Principito atravesaba un inicio editorial poco auspicioso, aunque en paralelo Saint-Exupéry continuaba trabajando en otro proyecto extensa y obsesivamente: el ensayo Ciudadela, publicado de forma póstuma.
La primera edición francesa de Le petit Prince apareció en 1947. Al español llegó en 1951. Desde entonces, la novela ha sido traducida a alrededor de 200 idiomas y dialectos, incluido el braille, y han surgido adaptaciones teatrales, cinematográficas, televisivas, coreográficas y operísticas. Las cifras de ventas acumuladas rondan los 200 millones de ejemplares, con al menos un millón de copias vendidas anualmente.
antoine saint exupéry
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El complicado rescate de un piloto de Estados Unidos en el interior iraní tras una frenética búsqueda
Mientras el F-15E gris surcaba el cielo del suroeste de Irán el último viernes, un proyectil impactó contra el caza de 19 toneladas, derribándolo. Este incidente desencadenó una de las operaciones de búsqueda y rescate más complejas de la Fuerza Aérea estadounidense en territorio enemigo en décadas. Uno de los dos ocupantes fue rescatado el mismo día del derribo, pero el segundo debió esperar oculto hasta este domingo.
El oficial rescatado es un coronel, pero su identidad no fue revelada. Su extracción ocurrió en una arriesgada misión la noche del sábado que llevó a comandos de Estados Unidos a lo profundo del territorio enemigo, según dijo el presidente Donald Trump en las redes sociales a primera hora del domingo.
El terreno montañoso, la cercanía de tropas enemigas y el piloto herido complicaron el trabajo, dijeron fuentes militares a The New York Times. Finalmente, comandos del Equipo 6 de los Navy SEAL rescataron al oficial en una operación con cientos de efectivos de operaciones especiales y personal militar.
No hubo bajas estadounidenses entre el equipo de rescate. Todos los comandos y el oficial de armas regresaron sanos y salvos. Aviones de rescate trasladaron al aviador herido a Kuwait para recibir tratamiento médico.
En la operación participaron aviones cisterna y de carga C-130 y helicópteros H-60 que despegaron y comenzaron a volar a baja altura y a baja velocidad sobre las colinas cubiertas de maleza de Irán, según videos verificados por The Wall Street Journal.
Los dos tripulantes del F-15E Strike Eagle, el primero en ser derribado por fuego enemigo en la guerra que ya dura un mes, se eyectaron de la cabina el viernes ante un ataque iraní. El piloto fue rescatado rápidamente, pero no se pudo encontrar al oficial de sistemas de armas.
Ese mismo día, un segundo aparato de EE.UU., un avión de ataque A-10, también recibió disparos y el piloto se eyectó a salvo cayendo en territorio de Kuwait, un aliado de Washington en actual la guerra.
Desde el último viernes, el coronel rescatado se había estado escondiendo tras las líneas enemigas con poco más que una pistola como defensa. Tras eyectarse del F-15E, se escondió en una grieta de la montaña, y su paradero fue inicialmente desconocido tanto para los estadounidenses que intentaban rescatarlo como para los iraníes que intentaban capturarlo.
La CIA inició una campaña de engaño para confundir a las fuerzas iraníes y convencerlas de que el aviador ya había sido rescatado y estaba saliendo del país en un convoy terrestre, según informó el Times.
La agencia de inteligencia finalmente localizó el escondite del aviador y transmitió la información al Pentágono, que organizó la operación de rescate.
El derribo del F-15E y el accidente de otro avión de combate estadounidense, un A-10 Warthog, poco después el viernes, suscitaron dudas sobre los dichos de Trump de que EE.UU. controlaba el cielo iraní.
La misión para rescatar al miembro de la tripulación empleó a cientos de efectivos de fuerzas especiales, decenas de aviones de guerra y helicópteros estadounidenses, así como capacidades de inteligencia cibernética, espacial y de otro tipo.
El aviador eludió a las fuerzas iraníes durante más de 24 horas, llegando incluso a escalar una cresta de 2.134 metros, según informó un alto funcionario militar estadounidense. Aviones de ataque de EE.UU. lanzaron bombas y abrieron fuego contra convoyes iraníes para mantenerlos alejados de la zona donde se escondía el aviador.
El piloto rescatado ayer estaba equipado con una baliza y un dispositivo de comunicación segura para coordinarse con las fuerzas que realizaban el rescate. Sin embargo, restringió el uso de su baliza, ya que las fuerzas iraníes también podrían haber detectado su señal.
En un giro inesperado tras el rescate del oficial de armamento, dos aviones de transporte que llevarían a los comandos y a los aviadores a un lugar seguro quedaron atascados en una base remota en Irán.
Los comandantes decidieron enviar tres aviones nuevos para evacuar a todo el personal militar estadounidense y al aviador, y optaron por destruir los dos aviones atascados para evitar que cayeran en manos iraníes. El domingo se observaron los restos del avión tras la operación de rescate. Irán dijo de inmediato que sus fuerzas habian derribado los dos aparatos, pero sin mostrar evidencias.
Agencias AP, AFP y The New York Times
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