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Tennessee Republican Senator Bob Corker dueled with President Donald Trump on Twitter, Sunday.
Trump began the feud early Sunday morning when he tweeted a series of posts attacking Corker, stating that he denied the senator's request for an endorsement. This claim was quickly denied later in the day by Corker’s chief of staff, Todd Womack.
The president also blamed Corker for the “horrendous and controversial deal with Iran”.
Womack said in a statement that the president called the senator Monday afternoon, asking him to reconsider his decision not to seek re-election, and re-affirmed that he would have endorsed him.
CNN reports that Trump told Corker he was going to endorse him the day Crocker announced his intention to retire late last month.
Trump’s aggressive tweets came only a few days after the senator made public comments criticizing him. Crocker responded to Trump's tweets with an insult, calling the White House "an adult day care center" in a Twitter post.
"Bob Corker gave us the Iran Deal, & that's about it," Trump tweeted on Sunday. "We need health care, we need tax cuts/reform [and] we need people that can get the job done!"
Croker told the The New York Times in a 25-minute phone interview that Trump was treating the presidency like "a reality show," making reckless threats against other countries that put the United States "on the path to World War III."
He also said Trump acts "like he's doing 'The Apprentice' or something," and that alarmed the senator, according to the Times.
Corker is the chair the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and defended his record on the Iran deal last year. He claims he “led Senate opposition to the Obama-era pact and was joined by almost the entire Senate and House in passing legislation in 2015 to establish a process for congressional review”.
This exchange comes as Congress looks into the task of tax reform. Corker has stated he cannot support tax legislation that “adds to the annual federal deficit, even though Trump's plan could do so”, according to some estimates.