Another recording of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was leaked to the press for a Friday report, intensifying questions about who is behind the releases and why.

CNN published audio of the latest leak and said it obtained the recording from "an attendee who opposes Paxton." All of the recordings stem from a Sept. 24 fundraiser in Washington, D.C., attended by a small group of lobbyists and insiders. Reports have described the gathering as including fewer than 20 people, and the source has never been publicly identified. The Friday release was the third batch of audio to surface from that single event.

The audio released Friday captures Paxton complaining that outgoing U.S. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) wants him "to lose."

Texas Monthly observed this week that "snitches" have become the latest in a long line of problems for Paxton's campaign.

"Believe it or not, a lot of campaigns conclude without this happening once. The gist of all three is that Paxton is not currently having fun, not a good time at all, on the trail. This is not as surprising or revelatory as the Pentagon Papers, though it's useful to have it confirmed. But the fact that the leaks happened, and the nature of them, is pretty interesting and invites speculation," wrote reporter Christopher Hooks.

Hooks asked whether the person who was "wired up" is a fan of James Talarico or Cornyn, but also floated a third possibility.

"Republicans have allocated more than a hundred million dollars to save Ken Paxton — something Senate Republicans warned would happen if Cornyn lost the primary," Hooks wrote. "There are surely a lot of GOP loyalists who are p—— about this and would rather send that money to places like Michigan, Maine or Ohio, where it would do a lot more good."

Cornyn, who lost the primary to Paxton, told the Texas Tribune shortly afterward that Paxton was not the right choice for a president who prioritizes loyalty over capability. He alleged that Paxton is "lazy" and cannot fundraise or campaign. By that account, everything Cornyn warned would happen is unfolding precisely as predicted.

Meanwhile, Paxton is "preparing to blame others what might be one of the most embarrassing defeats in modern political history," said former Rep. Carlos Curbelo (R-Fla.).

Trump has backed Paxton, endorsing him in the primary and repeatedly campaigning for him in Texas. A Paxton loss would represent a significant political embarrassment for the president, particularly as Republicans fight to retain the Senate.

Trump has sought to reshape the Republican Party around loyalty to him, backing primary challengers against lawmakers who resist his policy demands. Yet victory in a Republican primary does not guarantee success in November. This year, Republicans are confronting slowing job growth, higher food and gasoline prices, and average wage growth that has fallen below the latest available inflation reading. Trump's war with Iran has also weighed on his approval ratings and his party's election prospects.

As the GOP begins to triage in the final 26 days of the election, the Paxton recordings have laid bare Republican tensions not only around his candidacy but also around other Trump-supported candidates. Still, the identity and motives of those distributing the Paxton audio clips remain publicly unresolved, leaving open whether more recordings from the Sept. 24 fundraiser will surface — or whether the attendee who opposes Paxton will ever be named — before Election Day.