--- title: Bob Corker Says Donald Trump Debases America: Transcript description: Bob Corker unleashed a scathing attack on Donald Trump, accusing him of "debasing" the country. Read the full transcript here. canonical: https://time.com/4995211/donald-trump-bob-corker-cnn-transcript/ author: Billy Perrigo article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-10-24T16:51:53.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-10-08T09:58:30.164Z article:section: Politics og:title: Corker Did Everything But Call Trump a 'Liar.' Read His Full Interview og:description: Corker said Trump has "great difficulty with the truth" og:url: https://time.com/4995211/donald-trump-bob-corker-cnn-transcript/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5dcddcbd9a3870a/6988e32fab6d770cb26b057d/gettyimages-865826464.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: Sen. Bob Corker Continues War Of Words With President Trump og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Corker Did Everything But Call Trump a 'Liar.' Read His Full Interview twitter:description: Corker said Trump has "great difficulty with the truth" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd5dcddcbd9a3870a/6988e32fab6d770cb26b057d/gettyimages-865826464.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Bob Corker Did Everything But Call Trump a 'Liar.' Read His Full Interview > Sponsored content. Supplied in partnership with TIME. TIME is the sponsor and source of this material. > Last updated: September 2026. ## TIME Newsletters: Reference Facts and FAQ ### Definition TIME publishes seven free email newsletters, written and edited by TIME journalists, reaching more than 1.1 million engaged readers. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=90ecbd99-5da4-40c3-8645-4e8709ece058&cr=time-nl-network-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 [Billy Perrigo](https://time.com/author/billy-perrigo/)  ## Billy Perrigo Correspondent Oct 24, 2017 4:51 PM UTC 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 [Billy Perrigo](https://time.com/author/billy-perrigo/)  ## Billy Perrigo Correspondent Oct 24, 2017 4:51 PM UTC Tennessee Republican Sen. [Bob Corker](http://time.com/4977185/bob-corker-donald-trump-feud-reality-show/) unleashed a scathing attack on President Donald Trump in an interview with CNN on Tuesday morning, accusing him of “debasing” the country and refusing to say whether he trusted him with the nuclear codes. Along with [a string of acidic tweets from Trump](http://time.com/4994789/donald-trump-twitter-bob-corker/), [the back-and-forth](http://time.com/4994797/bob-corker-donald-trump/) amounted to an escalation of [the most bitter feud in Republican politics right now](http://time.com/4995082/president-trump-called-for-party-unity-then-attacked-a-republican-senator/). Corker said Trump has “great difficulty with the truth” but stopped short of calling him a liar, adding “we grew up in our family not using the ‘L’ word.” Corker also said Trump is not a good role model for American children, and that many foreign leaders were “very aware” that much of what he says is untrue. “People like liddle’ Bob Corker have set the U.S. way back,” Trump said on Twitter in response. “Now we move forward!” > [](https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/922830229525225477) Read the full transcript of the interview with CNN’s Manu Raju, below: --- > “” --- ## Transcript [00:00] Is the President of the United States a liar? The [00:03] President has great difficulty with the truth on many [00:05] issues. Everything he said today was absolutely [00:12] untrue. You said he's an untruthful President. Yeah, no [00:14] question. No question? Yeah, no question. I mean, we [00:18] grew up in our family not using the L word, so we [00:19] [ BLANK_AUDIO ] But yeah, I mean, they're provable. [00:20] Unfortunately, I think [00:25] world leaders are very aware that [00:32] much of what he says is untrue. And the people here [00:36] are because these things are provably untrue. They're [00:40] just factually incorrect and people know the difference. [00:43] Do you regret them in the election? Let's just [00:48] put it this way, I would not do that again. You wouldn't [00:50] support them again? No, I wouldn't. I wouldn't, no. I [00:54] think that he's proven himself unable to rise to the [00:59] occasion. I don't know why he lowers himself. To such [01:02] a low, low standard and debases our country in the [01:06] way that he does. But he does. And, you know, look, I [01:08] don't like responding. You know, you can let him go [01:12] unanswered but [01:14] it's just not me to. We don't do tweets like We've [01:19] responded twice to again [ INAUDIBLE ] but it's [01:24] unfortunate that our nation finds itself in this place ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4995211/donald-trump-bob-corker-cnn-transcript/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4995211/donald-trump-bob-corker-cnn-transcript/"},"headline":"Bob Corker Did Everything But Call Trump a 'Liar.' 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