Sen. Bob Corker on relationship with President Donald Trump: 'It's back to business as usual'
Jordan BuieU.S. Sen. Bob Corker said Tuesday the exchanges — and criticism — through the media with President Donald Trump were just both men being very direct and it hasn’t affected their relationship.
“I wouldn’t say it was an exchange of blows,” Corker said after speaking in Hendersonville. “I think the president has just come to know me as very direct. …I think it’s back to business as usual.”
The Tennessee Senator spent about 40 minutes answering questions from local residents on topics ranging from his interactions with the president and the escalating conflict with North Korea to what Corker believes is the main threat facing the United States.
In the wake of the violence between white supremacists and counter protesters in Charlottesville, Va., earlier this month, Corker said the president had not demonstrated that he understands the character of the nation and has not shown the competence needed to lead.
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Corker said his comments criticizing Trump for not strongly condemning the violent acts by white supremacists were aimed at influencing the president in the hopes that he would unify the nation.
A week later, the White House called Corker's comments "ridiculous," and Trump weighed in on Twitter, saying the senator's statement was strange "considering that he is constantly asking me whether or not he should run again in '18. Tennessee not happy!"
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"We need for our president to be aspirational," Corker said Tuesday. "If you read that whole statement and disagree, I’d be surprised. I talk to the president. I doubt that there is a senator in the Senate that has the same kind of relationship that I have with the president."
Corker said that everything he has said in the media he has said in some form or fashion directly to Trump.
Corker also mentioned "the good folks" in the White House and people in the administration he said have not been a good fit.
“I try to support the people I consider to be the good guys," Corker said. "The stable folks. I’m sorry, there have been some folks at the White House that have been different in that regard."
Corker praised Defense Secretary James Mattis, White House Chief of Staff John Kelly and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, saying the country has the best national security team he's seen since being in office and the most accessible president.
But he said his goal was to support the people he believes are giving the president the best long-term advice.
Corker said since the exchange on Twitter, he hasn’t spoken to the president directly but has been in usual contact with members of the administration.
Corker was asked what he thought of the changing, increasingly expedited news cycle, where one controversy quickly replaces the next.
Corker said there has been a change in politics where one group is pitted against another in an effort to win an election.
“Each of us has to conduct ourselves in a manner that is not based on trying to create divisions, but obviously to try to create bridges," Corker said. "I try to use very measured language, even when I’m trying to point out something that needs to be corrected."
Also on Tuesday, the latest moves by North Korea to fire missiles over Japan signals that the regime is still unwilling to cooperate, said Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.
Corker said the administration believed progress was being made.
But Corker said that while foreign policy challenges include war crimes in Syria, nefarious actions by Russia, an ascendant China, a nuclear North Kroea and the Islamic State, none of these represent the greatest threat to America’s safety.
“Our greatest threat to our nation is us," he said. "It is our inability to deal with our fiscal issues. ...Our nation as a whole still has work to do."
Reporter Jordan Buie can be reached at 615-726-5970 or by email at jbuie@tennessean.com. Follow him on Twitter @jordanbuie.