WASHINGTON — The White House responded to comments made by Tennessee Senator Bob Corker questioning President Donald Trump’s competence.
Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders was asked about Corker’s comments during a press briefing Thursday.
“I think that’s a ridiculous and outrageous claim and doesn’t dignify a response from this podium,” she said before taking another question.
The President responded on Twitter Friday morning saying, “Strange statement by Bob Corker considering that he is constantly asking me whether or not he should run again in ’18. Tennessee not happy!”
Corker, the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, last week delivered a rebuke of President Trump saying there must be “radical changes” at the White House after the President said “both sides” were to blame for the violence in Charlottesville, Virginia.
“The President has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence that he needs to be successful,” Corker said, according to a video posted by local news website 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.
Corker is the latest Republican senator to criticize Trump’s handling of the Charlottesville protests. The President responded to two other senators — Lindsey Graham of South Carolina and Jeff Flake of Arizona — on Twitter Thursday morning over their criticisms of him.