--- title: Donald Trump's Twitter Attacks on Bob Corker, Fact Checked description: Donald Trump tweeted 75 words about Bob Corker on Tuesday, saying at least two things that aren't true and two more that are debatable. canonical: https://time.com/4994789/donald-trump-twitter-bob-corker/ author: TIME article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-24T14:55:41.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:58:26.876Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Tweeted 75 Words About Bob Corker. Here's What Was False og:description: Fact-checking the President's Twitter tirade og:url: https://time.com/4994789/donald-trump-twitter-bob-corker/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb46033dfe61304bc/6988e10f22fb85ed16e232f9/bob-corker-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2405 og:image:height: 1353 og:image:alt: Bob-Corker-trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Tweeted 75 Words About Bob Corker. Here's What Was False twitter:description: Fact-checking the President's Twitter tirade twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltb46033dfe61304bc/6988e10f22fb85ed16e232f9/bob-corker-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump Tweeted 75 Words About Bob Corker. Here's What Was False > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=cd3ac4e4-5d18-4944-b201-b059e14de50d&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Senator Bob Corker Says President Trump "Has Difficulty With The Truth" [Watch (HLS stream): Senator Bob Corker Says President Trump "Has Difficulty With The Truth"](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/dhaOLjEI.m3u8) (1:28)  _Published 2017-10-24. Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker harshly criticized President Donald Trump anew on Tuesday, calling him an "utterly untruthful president" and saying he would not support his reelection._ by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Oct 24, 2017 2:55 PM UTC by [Ryan Teague Beckwith](https://time.com/author/ryan-teague-beckwith/) ## Ryan Teague Beckwith Oct 24, 2017 2:55 PM UTC President Donald Trump [tweeted 75 words about Tennessee Republican Sen. Bob Corker](http://time.com/4994797/bob-corker-donald-trump/?xid=homepage) on Tuesday morning, saying at least two things that aren’t true and two more that are debatable. [The feud between the two former Republican allies](http://time.com/4977185/bob-corker-donald-trump-feud-reality-show/) began earlier this month when Corker said Trump was treating the White House like “a reality show” and setting the U.S. “on the path to World War III.” It reignited this week, after Corker said that the White House should “step aside” and let Congress handle tax legislation, prompting Trump to fire off three tweets. 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 said. “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!” > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/922798321739161600) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/922799981874089985) > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/922817539251556353) There are several claims in those three tweets. Here are the facts. ## Corker ‘gave us’ the Iran nuclear deal: False Trump has previously claimed that Corker helped create the Iran nuclear deal, which fact checkers [have said is false](http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/2017/oct/12/donald-trump/sen-bob-corker-responsible-iran-deal-donald-trump-/). Corker, the powerful chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, vocally opposed the deal that President Barack Obama worked on with Iran in July of 2015 and called for his colleagues to reject it in [an op-ed in the Washington _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/congress-should-reject-the-bad-iran-deal/2015/08/17/0c983c78-44f3-11e5-8ab4-c73967a143d3%5Fstory.html?utm%5Fterm=.09e19519ea9b). He voted against the deal in the Senate and drafted the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act, which gives Congress more authority to review the agreement before allowing the president to lift sanctions that had been imposed by Congress. The White House has argued that the review act helped smooth the path for the Iran deal, but foreign policy experts generally agree that it did more to undermine the agreement. ## Corker could have trouble getting reelected: Debatable Trump said that Corker “couldn’t get elected dog catcher in Tennessee.” A quick note: Most dog catchers, nowadays, known as animal control officers, are [appointed, not elected](http://www.slate.com/articles/news%5Fand%5Fpolitics/explainer/2010/11/dog%5Frace.html). That said, Corker did face political trouble. A [June poll](http://tennesseestar.com/2017/06/07/poll-senator-bob-corker-may-be-in-trouble-with-tennessee-republican-primary-voters/) of likely Republican primary voters by the Tennessee _Star_ showed mixed results, with 41% backing him and 42% wanting someone else to run. Former White House strategist Steve Bannon was also [considering targeting Corker](http://www.politico.com/story/2017/09/10/bannon-gop-primaries-mcconnell-trump-242522) in the primary, although many in the Republican establishment think Bannon [won’t be able to follow through](http://time.com/4941027/stephen-bannon-doesnt-scare-washington/) on his threats. Corker served as the mayor of Chattanooga before winning a bruising race for a Senate seat in 2006\. He did not face a serious opponent in 2012. ## Corker is ‘fighting’ tax cuts: False Trump’s new claim was that Corker is “fighting” tax cuts. That was apparently in response to [Corker’s statements on NBC’s _Today_ show](http://www.politico.com/story/2017/10/24/bob-corker-trump-tax-feud-244101) that Trump’s visit to Capitol Hill on Tuesday is little more than a “photo op” and that the White House should “step aside” and let Congress handle the tax legislation. “Tax writing committees in the Senate and the House are going to be laying out the $4 trillion in loophole closings that need to take place,” he said. “Hopefully the White House will step aside and let that occur in a normal process.” Corker [voted for the Senate budget bill](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/breaking-fiscal-2018-budget-passed-senate/story?id=50609167) last week that is a crucial step to passing tax legislation with only Republican votes later this session. But he has voiced concern about whether the tax bill would increase the deficit. “If it looks to me like we’re adding one penny to the deficit, I am not going to be for it,” he [told NBC’s _Meet the Press_.](http://thehill.com/policy/finance/353969-deficit-hawks-voice-worry-over-direction-of-tax-plan) ## Corker dropped out because Trump wouldn’t endorse him: Depends who you ask Trump has also previously claimed that Corker dropped out of his Senate reelection race because Trump wouldn’t endorse him. But Corker’s staff has said that’s not how it played out. Todd Womack, Corker’s chief of staff, [told the Washington _Post_](https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/post-politics/wp/2017/10/08/trump-attacks-gop-sen-corker-didnt-have-the-guts-to-run-for-reelection/?utm%5Fterm=.b3882dc94bee) that Trump repeatedly offered to support Corker, including during a phone call asking him to reconsider his decision not to run for reelection. “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,” Womack said in a statement. Without further proof, it’s hard to make a definitive assessment of this claim. ## Corker ‘now is only negative’ on Trump: Mostly true Since the feud began earlier this month, Corker has said that some White House staffers are helping [“separate our country from chaos,”](http://www.cnn.com/2017/09/15/politics/bob-corker-donald-trump-timeline-relationship/index.html) called the White House “an incredibly frustrating place,” referred to it as an [“adult day care center,”](https://twitter.com/SenBobCorker/status/917045348820049920?ref%5Fsrc=twsrc%5Etfw&ref%5Furl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2F2017%2F09%2F15%2Fpolitics%2Fbob-corker-donald-trump-timeline-relationship%2Findex.html) said Trump is setting the U.S. [“on the path to World War III”](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/08/us/politics/trump-corker.html) and acting like the White House is a reality show, said he is [“castrating”](https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/bob-corker-on-trumps-biggest-problem-the-castration-of-rex-tillerson/2017/10/13/8a331abc-b03b-11e7-be94-fabb0f1e9ffb%5Fstory.html) Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, said he [wouldn’t support Trump for reelection](http://www.cnn.com/2017/10/24/politics/corker-trump-photo-op-tax-plan/index.html), said Trump is not a good role model for children, said that he is “utterly untruthful” and argued he is “debasing the nation.” “But I think at the end of the day, when his term is over, I think the debasing of our nation, the constant non-truth telling, just the name-calling… I think the debasement of our nation will be what he’ll be remembered most for, and that’s regretful,” he said Tuesday on CNN. ## Transcript Is the President of the United States a liar? The President has great difficulty with the truth on many issues. Everything he said today was absolutely untrue. You said he's an untruthful President. Yeah, no question. No question? Yeah, no question. I mean, we grew up in our family not using the L word, so we [ BLANK_AUDIO ] But yeah, I mean, they're provable. Unfortunately, I think world leaders are very aware that much of what he says is untrue. And the people here are because these things are provably untrue. They're just factually incorrect and people know the difference. Do you regret them in the election? Let's just put it this way, I would not do that again. You wouldn't support them again? No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't, no. I think that he's proven himself unable to rise to the occasion. 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. And, you know, look, I don't like responding. You know, you can let him go unanswered but it's just not me to. We don't do tweets like We've responded twice to again [ INAUDIBLE ] but it's unfortunate that our nation finds itself in this place ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4994789/donald-trump-twitter-bob-corker/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4994789/donald-trump-twitter-bob-corker/"},"headline":"President Trump Tweeted 75 Words About Bob Corker. 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