President Donald Trump attacked Sen. Bob Corker in a series of tweets Sunday, days after the Tennessee Republican made public comments criticizing him.
“Senator Bob Corker ‘begged’ me to endorse him for re-election in Tennessee. I said ‘NO’ and he dropped out (said he could not win without…” Trump wrote in a series of three consecutive tweets. “..my endorsement). He also wanted to be Secretary of State, I said “NO THANKS.” He is also largely responsible for the horrendous Iran Deal!”
“…Hence, I would fully expect Corker to be a negative voice and stand in the way of our great agenda. Didn’t have the guts to run!” Trump added.
Corker responded by tweeting an insult to Trump later Sunday morning.
“It’s a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning,” Corker wrote.
Former US attorney Preet Bharara, now a senior legal analyst at CNN, retweeted Corker’s response, remarking, “An adult day care center whose chief resident can’t count to 51.”
Bharara was fired by Trump a few months into his presidency.
Corker, the chairman of the Senate foreign relations committee, announced late last month he would not seek another term in the Senate and has made some critical comments about Trump’s demeanor and temperament.
Corker said in August that Trump had not yet demonstrated “the stability nor some of the competence” he needed to be successful.
He said Wednesday that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, Defense Secretary James Mattis and White House Chief of Staff John Kelly “help separate our country from chaos.”
Corker also said Tillerson has not received the support he needs from Trump.
“I mean, look, I see what’s happening here,” Corker said. “I deal with people throughout the administration and (Tillerson), from my perspective, is in an incredibly frustrating place, where, as I watch, OK, and I can watch very closely on many occasions, I mean you know, he ends up being not being supported in the way I would hope a secretary of state would be supported, that’s just from my vantage point.”
Tillerson, who has reportedly been displeased with Trump and his own role in the administration, made a public statement last week reaffirming his support for the President after news reports spoke of acrimony between the two men — principally, that Tillerson had questioned Trump’s intelligence, calling him a “moron,” in front of other top officials.
Tillerson’s statement of support for Trump prompted the President to say his secretary of state had refuted the story about the insult. Trump later told reporters inside a Las Vegas hospital, where he was visiting the victims of last Sunday’s mass shooting, that he has “total confidence” in Tillerson and said reports that the secretary of state called him a moron were “fake news” and “totally made up.”
