Senator Cornyn is facing a major primary challenge next March.  His opponent, the current A.G., Ken Paxton, keeps calling the senator a RINO and hoping to ride President Trump’s popularity in Texas all the way to the U.S. Senate.  Time will tell and this campaign has not really started yet, but Senator Cornyn is not taking anything for granted.

The latest about this heavyweight of a primary is that Senator Cornyn wants a special counsel.  Here is the story:

Sen. John Cornyn on Thursday called for a special counsel investigation into former President Barack Obama and officials in his administration over their handling of the 2016 investigation into Russian election interference.

Cornyn, R-Texas, has taken heat from the right over the years for his steadfast assertion that Russia did attempt to interfere in the 2016 election. He reasserted that belief Thursday while simultaneously calling for the Justice Department to investigate Obama — whom Trump recently accused of treason without evidence.

The Russia episode became central to Trump’s supporters’ distrust of the government officials they believe are working against the president. Cornyn’s call for a DOJ special counsel appointment lends credence to that longstanding sentiment on the right as he tries to fend off a high-profile primary challenge from Attorney General Ken Paxton, who has claimed the MAGA mantle and questioned Cornyn’s loyalty to Trump.

Cornyn said he has not discussed his suggestion that DOJ appoint a special counsel with Trump. NBC News reported Thursday that Trump does not support the special counsel request and believes the DOJ can handle the investigation without one.

Well, let’s see how this goes.  I am not a big fan of a special counsel because they seem to go crazy and get into a lot of areas beyond their task.  At the same time, some of Senator Cornyn’s critics are right that he may be hiding the special counsel to avoid the issue.

In the meantime, we wait for this primary fight to really start.  A.G. Paxton is also facing a divorce, and that may be tough, because his wife is a state senator and extremely popular with the base.

The Trump administration is not interested in a special counsel.  Who knows if that will change?  I’d rather wait for A.G. Bondi to issue a report or potential indictments.

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Image: John Cornyn.  Credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.