“When Senate Republicans chose a new majority leader in 2024, South Dakota senator John Thune narrowly defeated Texas senator John Cornyn. Since then, Cornyn’s career has taken a turn for the worse, culminating in his shocking landslide defeat in last month’s Texas GOP primary runoff,” New York Magazine reports.

“But in retrosepct, Cornyn might have been the lucky one. Yes, the Texan had to suffer the humiliation of Donald Trump endorsing his opponent, Ken Paxton, even after he all but crawled on his knees to Mar-a-Lago to show his loyalty to the president. But it turns out Trump had a different hell in mind for Thune, as he has perpetually thwarted his efforts to manage the U.S. Senate.”

Semafor: Trump and Thune’s dynamic turns the Senate “very chaotic.”

“Senate lawmakers are threatening to freeze Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s travel budget if the Pentagon doesn’t turn over more details about the deadly bombing of an Iranian girls school in February and full videos of lethal strikes against alleged drug smuggling boats in the waters off Latin America,” Politico reports.

“The provisions, tucked into the Senate Armed Services Committee’s defense policy bill, would withhold 75 percent of the Pentagon chief’s travel budget until lawmakers receive the documentation.”

“President Donald Trump has created an absolute mess,” Punchbowl News reports.

“The Senate Intelligence Committee was forced to cancel its confirmation hearing for Jay Clayton to serve as director of national intelligence after Trump instructed him not to attend.”

“At 3:54 a.m. today, Trump posted on Truth Social that he was looking to ‘cancel’ Clayton’s confirmation hearing to be DNI because he wanted the Senate to also confirm James McDonald as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York…”

“Trump’s meandering post is having a cascading effect on other legislative priorities, too. It threatens to upend an extension of FISA Section 702 authority, which has been dark since Friday. Democrats have vowed they won’t vote to reauthorize Section 702 until a permanent DNI nominee is in place. And Trump repeated his unrealistic demand that GOP leaders attach the SAVE America Act to a FISA extension.”

Playbook: “The last-minute U-turn is Trump’s latest capricious decision that is puzzling Republicans on the Hill.”