Trump blasts Sen. Corker: ‘Didn’t have the guts to run!’

U.S. President Donald Trump stops to deliver remarks to the news media as he walks to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C. on Saturday. On Sunday, Trump posted a series of tweets criticizing Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. Photo by Shawn Thew/UPI

Oct. 9 (UPI) — President Donald Trump criticized outgoing Republican Sen. Bob Corker on Twitter Sunday and said he refused to endorse the Tennessee lawmaker’s re-election bid.

“Senator Bob Corker “begged” me to endorse him for re-election in Tennessee. I said ‘NO’ and he dropped out (said he could not win without… my endorsement),” Trump wrote on Twitter.

“Didn’t have the guts to run!” he added.

Trump also said Corker asked him to be nominated to Secretary of State, but the president’s answer was, “NO THANKS.”

Corker then took to Twitter to swipe back at the president.

“It’s a shame the White House has become an adult day care center,” he wrote. “Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.”

In a statement, Corker’s chief of staff, Todd Womack, denied that Trump refused to endorse the senator.

“The president called Senator Corker on Monday afternoon and asked him to reconsider his decision not to seek re-election and reaffirmed that he would have endorsed him, as he has said many times,” Womack said.

Corker has been a U.S. Senator from Tennessee since 2006. Last month, he announced he would not seek re-election in 2018.

“When I ran for the Senate in 2006, I told people that I couldn’t imagine serving for more than two terms. Understandably, as we have gained influence, that decision has become more difficult,” Corker said at the time. “But I have always been drawn to the citizen legislator model, and while I realize it is not for everyone, I believe with the kind of service I provide, it is the right one for me.”

Trump and Corker have been at odds with each other since August, when the Tennessee senator criticized Trump’s response to protests in Charlottesville, Va., in which a man drove a car into a crowd of people, resulting on the death of one person.

“The President has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful,” Corker told Nooga.com.

“He has not demonstrated that he understands what has made this nation great and what it is today, and he’s got to demonstrate the characteristics of a president who understands that,” Corker added.

Trump responded to the comment on Twitter.

“Strange statement by Bob Corker considering that he is constantly asking me whether or not he should run again in ’18. Tennessee not happy!” the president wrote.

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