Washington: Donald Trump made a rare trip to Congress today to lobby for his tax reforms, but the president’s efforts were overshadowed by an explosive new war of words pitting him against a top senator from his Republican Party.
Trump arrived on Capitol Hill to attend the Senate Republican caucus lunch for the first time since his inauguration, to rally support for passing a tax overhaul before year’s end.
But attention instead has swerved to a brutal back-and- forth with Senator Bob Corker, who charged in response to a Twitter attack from the president that Trump is an “utterly untruthful” leader who “debases” the nation.
Corker, an influential Republican who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and has emerged as an outspoken critic of the president, excoriated him earlier this month as dangerously impulsive and branded the White House an “adult day care center.”
He appeared to further antagonize Trump when he told ABC early Tuesday that he would like the president to stand clear of the debate over tax legislation and “leave it to the professionals” to finalize the plan.
Trump rounded on Corker in a series of tweets, and the war of words was on, playing out on television and social media in real time.
“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 tweeted.
“Same untruths from an utterly untruthful president,” shot back Corker.
“I don’t know why he lowers himself to such a low, low standard and debases our country in the way that he does, but he does,” Corker went on to tell reporters at the Senate. “He has proven himself unable to rise to the occasion.”
Corker — who himself is not running for re-election next year — expressed regret for supporting Trump’s presidential bid, and said he would not vote for him again.