Corker, Trump continue feud ahead of tax talks

Oct. 24--President Donald Trump and Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., continued their ongoing feud Tuesday morning ahead of Trump's visit to Capitol Hill to discuss tax negotiations.

Trump tweeted two early morning tweets that accused Corker of working with former President Barack Obama on the "bad Iran Deal" and continued his allegations that Corker announced his retirement because Trump refused to endorse him.

Corker responded to Trump's tweets, calling the tweets the "same untruths from an utterly untruthful president. #AlertTheDaycareStaff," which referred to an earlier tweet from Corker, in which he called the White House an "adult day care."

Corker continued his remarks against Trump during a CNN interview.

"Nothing he said in his tweets today were truthful nor accurate, and he knows it. People around him know it. I would hope the staff over there would figure out ways of controlling him when they know that everything he said today was absolutely untrue," said Corker, who claimed Trump encouraged him to run four times.

"The said thing is there are some really good people around him. If he would stay out of their way and let them perform -- people like [Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and Secretary of Defense James Mattis] and others -- we could really make progress on things that matter greatly to our country," Corker said.

Corker also said Trump has an issue with telling the truth, and he thinks world leaders are aware that "much of what he says is untrue."

Trump took to Twitter to respond to Corker's remarks, calling Corker "incompetent" in his role as head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, claiming the "world was laughing and taking advantage of us."

Earlier this month, Corker, who was once a leading candidate for Trump's secretary of state position, was the target of another series of tweets from Trump.

In those tweets, Trump continued his claim Corker announced his retirement because he did not receive an endorsement from Trump and said he expected Corker "to be a negative voice and stand in the way of our great agenda."

Todd Womack, Corker's chief of staff, denied Trump's claim and said Trump urged Corker to seek re-election, and he would receive his endorsement.

Corker shot back at Trump with a tweet of his own an hour later.

"It's a shame the White House has become an adult day care center. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning," Corker tweeted.

Corker previously criticized and questioned Trump's ability to lead the country, most notably following the Charlottesville, Virginia protest in August.

"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," said Corker, who was critical of Trump's response to the protest. "He also, recently, has not demonstrated that he understands the character of this nation."

Following those statements, Trump took to Twitter to voice his thoughts on Corker's comments.

"Strange statement by Bob Corker considering that he is constantly asking me whether or not he should run again in '18," Trump tweeted.

A month later, Corker showed support of Trump's push for tax reform and said he had a "very productive meeting at the White House."

Corker announced last month he would not seek re-election in 2018.

"I also believe the most important public service I have to offer our country could well occur over the next 15 months, and I want to be able to do that as thoughtfully and independently as I did the first 10 years and nine months of my Senate career," he said.

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