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MAGA Candidate Caught Laughing in Humiliating Leaked Audio

Ken Paxton told lobbyists that Republicans have to “suck it up” over Social Security cuts.

Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton was hit with another brutal audio leak in which he is caught with a group of lobbyists laughing as they discuss mandatory spending cuts.

Mandatory spending in the federal government is overwhelmingly driven by the benefit programs Social Security and Medicare. Attempts to reform such programs are politically toxic with voters, as efforts have often meant slashing funds.

“Making some reasonable cuts in mandatory spending, you’re gonna have to do it, or there is no solution,” Paxton said in the audio leaked to the Texas Tribune. “That’s just the reality. We have to suck it up.”

“From Republican presidents to Democratic, we’ve been spending like crazy, and no one seems to care. And it’s going to bankrupt us,” Paxton added.

A lobbyist then chimed in, saying she wants to pay her fair share of taxes, “which is less than I pay now.” The group can be heard laughing.

While the group argued for mandatory spending cuts behind closed doors, the Texas attorney general insisted in a statement to the Daily Beast that he opposed slashing Social Security.

“I will protect Social Security,” he said, referring to recent public comments. “Social Security represents a sacred promise that seniors paid into, and they have earned every single dollar.”

The statement did not address the Daily Beast’s question over whether he supported cutting Medicare. The statement instead pointed to Vice President JD Vance’s efforts to combat fraud as a way to go about cutting spending.

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Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid made up about three-quarters of all mandatory federal spending in 2025, according to the Congressional Budget Office.

Paxton can also be heard in the clip telling the room, “We’ve got to get the maximum incentive by getting taxes to a better place, which I think will generate more income. The growing out of this is part of the solution.”

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The leaked audio was an excerpt in which the group discussed the ballooning national debt. It’s the fourth leaked audio clip from a private fundraiser that Paxton attended with lobbyists in Washington, D.C. on September 24.

Other leaks to multiple publications have included him trashing Trump’s convention and venting his frustrations as he struggles in the polls against Democratic opponent James Talarico in the must-win state.

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Paxton, in his statement, blasted the leaks, claiming the “fake news keeps spinning the same cherry-picked audio to mislead Texans and take my words out of context.”

After the lobbyist, identified as Jeanne Haggerty by the Texas Tribune, said she would like a personal tax cut, prompting the laughter, Paxton responded, “I’m with you on that. I think tax cuts will actually generate more revenue.”

While Paxton denies wanting to cut Social Security, the Texas Alliance for Retired Americans, which advocates for seniors, seized on the latest leak.

“Ken Paxton has a lot of nerve telling working Americans to ‘suck it up’ and accept cuts to the benefits they’ve spent their lives earning,” said its president Gene Lantz in a statement. “There is no ‘reasonable’ amount to cut from the Social Security checks retirees depend on to pay their bills or the Medicare benefits they need to see a doctor and get their prescriptions.”

Trump has stood by his hand-picked Texas Senate candidate in recent weeks despite the slow drip of audio leaks. Asked about Paxton in the Oval Office on Wednesday, he insisted he had no regrets endorsing him.

Trump then flew to San Antonio, Texas, for a rally Wednesday night, where Paxton attended.

It was Trump’s second event in two weeks in the state as he attempts to drag Paxton and other Republicans across the finish line in the midterms.

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Sarah Ewall-WicePolitical Reporter

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