President Donald Trump has criticised Senator John Cornyn of Texas over the delayed confirmation of acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, linking the dispute to an increasingly bitter Republican primary contest in the state. The confrontation matters because it highlights tensions between Trump and Senate Republicans whose support is needed to confirm his nominee for the country’s top law-enforcement post.

Trump’s comments followed his threat to withdraw Blanche’s nomination unless Republican holdouts backed it, with Cornyn portrayed as a central obstacle. The dispute comes as Cornyn faces pressure in Texas’s Republican Senate primary, where Trump has previously sought to unseat him, intensifying the political stakes around the confirmation vote.