Sen. Bob Corker Tuesday said he is not backing down from his frequent criticisms about President Donald Trump, including saying he's paving the way to World War III and comparing the White House to an adult day care center.
"I don't make comments I haven't thought about," the Tennessee Republican, who is not running for re-election, told ABC News' "Good Morning America" host George Stephanopoulos. "The first was obvious in response to a fallacious tweet that the president sent out."
Corker echoed the comments on NBC's "Today" show, saying he does believe the president has people around him, such as Defense Secretary James Mattis, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and Chief of Staff John Kelly, who "work in an effort to contain him."
Shortly after the appearances, Trump tweeted a pair of attacks against the outgoing lawmaker, who heads the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Trump tweeted:
Corker then hit back on Twitter:
Trump weighed in again later, repeating his original claims and piling on more.
On Tuesday, Corker told ABC that Trump is continuing to "kneecap" Tillerson by moving him away from diplomatic negotiations with China.
"The president undermines our secretary of State, raises tensions in the area by virtue of the tweets that he sends out, and I would just like for him to leave it to the professionals and see if we can do something constructive to are our country, the region and the world," said Corker.
The senator told the Today program that when there are the kinds of issues the United States is dealing with in North Korea, which has an unstable leader, and "kneecap" tillerson, "you move our country
"I want him to support diplomatic efforts, not to embarrass and malign efforts that are underway to try to get some kind of diplomatic solution here, and I think most people would agree with that," Corker told NBC.
He said he is not disappointed that more in the Senate aren't following his lead in criticizing Trump.
"This has been building for some time, as I've watched the way the White House has operated," Corker said. "My concerns have continued to rise. And, look. I'm one senator who is expressing what I believe to be sincere, what I know to be sincere concern. Other senators may have other issues they're dealing with. But this is the role that I believe I should play for the good of our country, and for the good of the world, really."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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