Tag: Bob Corker

Corker Unloads on Republicans for Being Afraid of Trump

The following article by Eric Garcia was posted on the Roll Call website June 12, 2018:

Tennessee Republican said Republicans fear upsetting POTUS before midterms

Sen. Bob Corker unloaded on his fellow Republicans for cowering from President Donald Trump.

The retiring Tennessee senator was angered that his amendment to the defense authorization measure that would reclaim congressional prerogatives on trade and tariffs would not be up for a vote, and he mocked his colleagues for not standing up to the president, including the chamber’s no. 2 Republican, Majority WhipJohn Cornyn. Continue reading “Corker Unloads on Republicans for Being Afraid of Trump”

Corker unveils bill to check Trump’s tariff authority, rebuffing a personal request from the president

The following article by Erica Werner was posted on the Washington Post website June 6, 2018:

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) Credit: Joshua Roberts, Reuters

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) introduced a bipartisan bill Wednesday that would give Congress new authority to check the president’s trade moves, going forward with the legislation despite a personal appeal from President Trump to back off.

Corker’s bill would require congressional approval when the president enacts tariffs under the auspices of national security, as Trump did last week in imposing levies on aluminum and steel imports from Canada, Mexico and the European Union.

The legislation, which Corker released with a total of nine Democratic and Republican co-sponsors, is the most forceful congressional response to date to Trump’s protectionist trade agenda. For the first time, at least some Republicans are uniting behind a concrete plan to force the president to change course on trade, after months of pleas and appeals achieved little.

The development comes as Trump prepares to travel to Quebec for a meeting of the Group of Seven nations, a gathering expected to include confrontations between Trump and foreign leaders — including close U.S. allies and major trading partners — over the president’s tariffs and other policies. Continue reading “Corker unveils bill to check Trump’s tariff authority, rebuffing a personal request from the president”

John Cornyn doesn’t have a good answer on tax bill loophole that means millions for Corker and Trump

The following article by Emily Stewart was posted on the Vox website December 18, 2017:

“What we’ve tried to do is cobble together the votes we needed to get this bill passed.”

Credit: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) on Sunday said the decision to include a provision in the Republican tax plan that would personally enrich some GOP lawmakers and President Donald Trump came from an effort to “cobble together the votes we need to get this bill passed.” Not exactly a moment of putting country over party.

In a Sunday appearance on ABC’s This Week, Cornyn, the Senate majority whip, was asked by journalist George Stephanopoulos about an International Business Times (IBT) report, which saw Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) switch from a “no” vote to a “yes” after a certain provision that would boost his real estate income was added to the tax bill. Continue reading “John Cornyn doesn’t have a good answer on tax bill loophole that means millions for Corker and Trump”

‘Utterly untruthful’: Corker unbound as he attacks Trump over fitness, competence

The following article by Ashley Parker was posted on the Washington Post website October 24, 2017:

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) and President Trump are trading critiques and insults, with Corker saying on Oct. 24 that Trump is “debasing” the nation and should leave tax negotiations and foreign policy “to the professionals.” (Bastien Inzaurralde, Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

By just before 9 a.m. Tuesday, Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) was already a man unburdened.

Corker, the chairman of the powerful Senate Foreign Relations Committee, had appeared early on three major morning shows — ABC, CBS and NBC — ostensibly to preview his party’s tax plan ahead of President Trump’s visit to the Capitol on Tuesday for a lunch with Senate Republicans. Continue reading “‘Utterly untruthful’: Corker unbound as he attacks Trump over fitness, competence”

Bob Corker tirade encapsulates five reasons why Trump has failed at governing

The following article by James Hohmann with Breanne Deppisch and Joanie Greve was posted on the Washington Post website October 9, 2017:

THE BIG IDEA: Donald Trump’s escalating feud with Bob Corker, the Republican chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, captures in miniature why he’s been ineffective during his first nine months as president.

— It’s unclear what exactly triggered the thin-skinned commander in chief to post three tweets attacking the Tennessee senator on Sunday morning. The most plausible explanation is that he was reacting to a segment on “Fox News Sunday.” The show aired a soundbite of Corker telling reporters last week that Rex Tillerson is one of three people in the administration who “separate our country from chaos.” That came in response to an NBC report that the secretary of state had called the president a “moron.” Continue reading “Bob Corker tirade encapsulates five reasons why Trump has failed at governing”

One GOP senator’s extraordinarily dim assessment of the Trump administration

The following article by Aaron Blake was posted on the Washington Post website October 4, 2017:

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) weighed in on the tumult within President Trump’s administration on Oct. 4, and said Secretary of State Rex Tillerson “ends up not being supported in a way that I would hope a secretary of state would be supported.” (C-SPAN)

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) announced recently that he would not seek reelection in 2018, and that seems to have freed him up to speak more candidly about the Trump administration. And speak more candidly he did on Wednesday.

In a conversation with reporters, Corker responded to an NBC News report that Secretary of State Rex Tillerson had to be talked out of resigning after disagreements with President Trump. Corker, who as chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee has worked extensively with Tillerson, said he wouldn’t disclose sensitive conversations that the two might have had. Continue reading “One GOP senator’s extraordinarily dim assessment of the Trump administration”

GOP Senator Says Trup Hasn’t Shown Stability, Competence

The following article by Richard Lardner was posted on the Associate Press website August 17, 2017:

Credit: AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite

WASHINGTON (AP) — A prominent Republican senator delivered a stinging rebuke Thursday of Donald Trump’s short time in office, declaring he has not shown the stability or competence required for an American president to succeed.

Sen. Bob Corker of Tennessee, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, also said Trump “recently has not demonstrated that he understands the character of this nation.” During comments to local reporters after a speech to the Chattanooga Rotary Club, Corker called for “radical changes” in how the Trump White House operates.

Separately, Republican Sen. Tim Scott told a newspaper in his home state of South Carolina that Trump’s heavily criticized response to violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, “complicates this administration’s moral authority.” Continue reading “GOP Senator Says Trup Hasn’t Shown Stability, Competence”