we're dealing with a knucklehead who feels like everybody owes him from the start. if he helped make her a judge, even if he had no idea who she was, he will 100% feel like she owes him, her family owes him, and everybody she's ever passed on the street owes him. and much like a mob boss, one day, and that day may never come, he will ask a favor. this fuckstick still thinks the state of texas owes him because of how much money everybody "made" after hurricane harvey.
even if she is completely objective and unbiased, he doesn't see things that way, and i'm sure this has been communicated to her in one way or another. either that, or she knows how he operates, and is preemptively doing whatever she needs to.
the circular argument of "who actually is responsible for her getting this gig" goes out the window when you're dealing with trump, and the fact that so much time and energy has already been wasted on it is vintage surly.