Attacks Corker...

Trump attacks Corker hours before he heads to Hill for GOP unity effort

The president claims his latest sparring partner 'couldn't get elected dog catcher in Tennessee.'

By LOUIS NELSON

President Donald Trump accused Sen. Bob Corker on Tuesday of working against Republican efforts to pass major tax reform legislation, escalating the feud between the two men hours before the president heads to Capitol Hill in an effort to project unity on taxes and health care.

“Bob Corker, who helped President O give us the bad Iran Deal & couldn't get elected dog catcher in Tennessee, is now fighting Tax Cuts,” Trump wrote on Twitter Tuesday morning. “Corker dropped out of the race in Tennesse [sic] when I refused to endorse him, and now is only negative on anything Trump. Look at his record!”

Corker quickly fired back on Twitter, lamenting the "same untruths from an utterly untruthful president. #AlertTheDaycareStaff."

Trump’s tweet followed a string of appearances by Corker (R-Tenn.) on the three major broadcast morning news shows during which he needled the president. On NBC’s “Today,” Corker called on the White House to “step aside” on tax reform and allow Congress to take the lead in crafting the legislation. Trump’s scheduled lunch with Republican senators on Tuesday is little more than a “photo op,” Corker said, as the push for tax reform gets underway.

Trump’s claim that Corker, who will not seek reelection in 2018, opted to leave the Senate only after the president refused to endorse him has been repeatedly disputed by the Tennessee Republican’s office. In fact, it was Trump, Corker’s office has said, who asked the senator to reconsider his retirement.

"The president called Senator Corker on Monday afternoon and asked him to reconsider his decision not to seek reelection and reaffirmed that he would have endorsed him, as he has said many times," Todd Womack, Corker's chief of staff, said earlier this month.