Sen Bob Corker slammed Donald Trump for treating the White House ‘like a reality show’ and warned that the president’s impulsive threats against other countries could set America ‘on the path to World War III’.
Corker, who chairs the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, criticized the president for running his office like a ‘reality show’.
‘He concerns me,’ Corker told The New York Times, adding: ‘He would have to concern anyone who cares about our nation.’
The public spat between the former allies could also undermine Trump’s legislative agenda, with Corker’s vote vital to the fate of the Iran nuclear deal and passing tax reform.
Sen Bob Corker (left) slammed Donald Trump (right) for treating the White House ‘like a reality show’ and warned that the president’s impulsive threats against other countries could set America ‘on the path to World War III’
On Sunday morning, Trump tweeted that Corker had decided against running for re-election because he lacked the ‘guts,’ prompting the senator to reply that the White House had become an ‘adult daycare center’.
‘It’s a shame the White House has become an adult day care center,’ Corker tweeted. ‘Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.’
‘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 my endorsement),’ Trump wrote.
‘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!’ the president said.
The highly unusual exchange came seemingly out of nowhere on a rainy Sunday morning that Trump began in the White House before skies cleared and he headed to the Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia.
Corker, a respected moderate who once supported Trump, has emerged in recent months as one of the president’s most outspoken Republican critics.
Corker also smacked back at the president Sunday morning, saying the White House had ‘become an adult day care center’
President Trump alleged that Corker, R-Tenn, ‘begged’ him for an endorsement and he said ‘NO’
He recently said that only the presence of the generals in Trump’s inner circle had kept the White House from descending into ‘chaos’.
Trump made no mention of that remark in his volley of tweets, instead attacking Corker for his decision to return to private life, saying that the Tennessee Republican bore heavy responsibility for what Trump considers the deeply flawed nuclear deal with Iran.
An early supporter of Trump’s in the US Senate, Corker knocked the president this week, hinting that he thought Trump was unstable.
‘I think Secretary Tillerson, Secretary Mattis and Chief of Staff Kelly are those people that help separate our country from chaos,’ Corker said Wednesday.
Tillerson’s future with the administration has been in question after an NBC News report came out that said he had almost resigned in July and called the president a ‘moron’ at a Pentagon meeting.
The secretary of state was forced to trot out and make a public comment on the allegations, though didn’t deny he had called Trump such a name.
Beyond just suggesting that the trio of Tillerson, Kelly and Mattis are the adults in the room, Corker seriously questioned Trump’s job performance in the aftermath of the racial violence in Charlottesville, in which Trump had faulted ‘both sides’ as white supremacists and counter-protesters tussled in the Virginia town.
‘The President has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful,’ Corker said in August.
CNN reported that Trump and Corker had made up since then and the president wanted him to run again.
But 11 days ago, the Tennessee Republican announced his retirement.
This week, Corker told reporters that Secretaries Mattis and Tillerson along with Chief of Staff John Kelly ‘separate the country from chaos,’ a clear dig at Trump
Without the Trump stamp of approval, the president suggested Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., ‘Didn’t have the guts to run’ for another term. He’ll step down when his term runs out in 2019
Trump was still at it by dinnertime Sunday, tweeting that Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., had no record except the Iran deal, which the president hates
CNN reported Sunday that Trump was ready to give Corker his endorsement that day and had remained committed to him running until this week.
‘The president called the senator early last week and asked him to reconsider his decision not to seek re-election and reaffirmed that he would have endorsed him, as he has said many times,’ a source said.
After Corker’s day care comment, Trump went after the Republican again.
‘Bob Corker gave us the Iran Deal, & that’s about it. We need HealthCare, we need Tax Cuts/Reform, we need people that can get the job done!’ Trump tweeted late Sunday afternoon.
Before Trump’s tweets Sunday, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders had already taken on Corker for his ‘chaos’ remark.
‘I think the president is the one that’s keeping the world from chaos,’ she said at the press briefing Friday.
‘He has an incredible team around him that’s helping him lead that effort,’ she went on. ‘He’s had tremendous accomplishments on the international stage by working with allies and confronting enemies.’
‘We’re gonna continue doing that – we’re gonna continue doing that as a team with the president leading that effort,’ Huckabee Sanders added.
A spokesperson for Corker did not respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment.