Bob Corker, who chairs the powerful Senate foreign relations committee, slammed the US President yesterday for running his office like a “reality show” in a rebuke that was remarkable even by the volatile standards of the Trump administration.

The spat between the former allies could also undermine Mr Trump’s legislative agenda, with Senator Corker’s vote vital to the fate of the Iran nuclear deal and passing tax reform.

“He concerns me,” Senator Corker told The New York Times. “He would have to concern anyone who cares about our nation.”

The drama erupted when Mr Trump tweeted that Senator Corker had decided against running for re-election because he lacked the “guts”. The senator replied that the White House had become an “adult daycare centre”.

The unusual exchange came out of nowhere on a rainy morning that Mr Trump began in the White House before skies cleared and he headed to a golf course.

Senator Corker, a respected moderate who once supported Mr Trump, has emerged as one of the President’s most outspoken ­Republican critics.

He recently said that only the generals in Mr Trump’s inner circle had kept the White House from descending into “chaos”.

Mr Trump attacked Senator Corker for his decision to return to private life, blaming him for what Mr Trump considers the flawed nuclear deal with Iran.

“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),” Mr Trump wrote in a series of tweets.

“He also wanted to be secretary of state, I said ‘NO THANKS.’ He is also largely responsible for the horrendous Iran deal!”

Mr Trump called Senator Corker a “negative voice” who would “stand in the way of our great agenda”. “Didn’t have the guts to run!” the President added.

Senator Corker told the New York Times Mr Trump had urged him to run again and promised to endorse him. “I don’t know why the President tweets out things that are not true,” he said.

Mr Trump’s outcry was not unusual, but Senator Corker’s blunt rebuttal was strikingly rare, coming from a fellow top Republican.

The senator tweeted: “It’s a shame the White House has become an adult daycare centre. Someone obviously missed their shift this morning.”

A few hours later, Mr Trump suggested Senator Corker’s achievements had been limited.

“Bob Corker gave us the Iran deal, & that’s about it. We need HealthCare, we need Tax Cuts/Reform, we need people that can get the job done!” he wrote.

Amid the row, Mr Trump sent congress his immigration reform priorities, including building a controversial border wall, speeding up deportations and dramatically increasing the number of officials involved in enforcement.

The list, which also includes preventing immigrants from sponsoring their extended families to move to the US, drew immediate fire from Democratic leaders, who said it went “far ­beyond what is reasonable”.

The administration tied its priorities to Democrats’ desire to provide legal protection to about 690,000 immigrants known as Dreamers who came to the US ­illegally as children and were covered by an amnesty by former president Barack Obama, which Mr Trump scrapped last month.

“These findings outline reforms that must be included as part of any legislation addressing the status of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients,” Mr Trump wrote in a letter to congress accompanying the list, using the official name for the amnesty order.

The White House list is topped by “border security”, a category that includes building a massive wall on the southern US border that Mr Trump promised would be paid for by Mexico, which has said it will not do so.

Mr Trump also wants to ramp up the number of officials involved in enforcement, hiring an ­additional 10,000 Immigrations and Customs Enforcement officers and 1000 lawyers, 370 immigration judges and 300 federal prosecutors.

And he hopes to prevent immigrants from sponsoring extended family members to move to the US, limiting such green cards to spouses and children, as well as to close “loopholes” that prevent the deportation of children who enter the country illegally.

The list includes financially targeting “sanctuary cities” that have resisted the Trump administration’s efforts to crack down on illegal immigrants.

Mr Trump’s list was criticised by Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, the respective Democratic leaders in the Senate and House.

“This proposal fails to represent any attempt at compromise,” they said. “The list includes the wall, which was explicitly ruled out of the negotiations. If the President was serious about protecting the Dreamers, his staff has not made a good-faith effort to do so.”

This article was originally published by AFP -

See also - Outgoing Senator Admits What Others Won’t Say About Trump: Bob Corker turns against the president, and says nearly every other Senate Republican shares his concerns.