White House Watch: Corker and Trump Break Up

In a letter submitting these to congressional leaders, President Donald Trump said the reforms and priorities “must be included as part of any legislation addressing the status of Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients. Without these reforms, illegal immigration and chain migration, which severely and unfairly burden American workers and taxpayers, will continue without end.”

This sounds like the end of the president’s deal last month with Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi, who claimed they had agreed with Trump on fixing the gap in the law filled by the DACA program (which the administration is winding down).

Schumer and Pelosi released a statement Sunday night blasting the Trump priorities. “We told the President at our meeting that we were open to reasonable border security measures alongside the DREAM Act, but this list goes far beyond what is reasonable,” the two Democrats 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.”

Asked about the statement, a senior administration official who was in the room during last month’s White House meeting disputed Schumer and Pelosi’s characterization. “There was a deal to make a deal,” said the official.

Corker Uncorked—Tennessee senator Bob Corker began his Sunday in the sights of President Donald Trump, who had presumably stewed all weekend over Corker’s bagging on him last week. “I think Secretary Tillerson, Secretary Mattis, and Chief of Staff Kelly are those people that help separate our country from chaos, and I support them very much,” Corker said Wednesday, a clear and confirmed criticism of Trump himself after Tillerson was reported to have called the president a “moron.”

Corker’s comment has had jaws wagging on cable news ever since, which seemed to set Trump off Sunday morning. “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). He also wanted to be Secretary of State, I said ‘NO THANKS.’ He is also largely responsible for the horrendous Iran Deal! Hence, I would fully expect Corker to be a negative voice and stand in the way of our great agenda. Didn’t have the guts to run!” the president tweeted around 10 a.m.

That prompted Corker to shoot back on Twitter:

The bickering continued on Sunday, with Corker spokesman Todd Womack telling the Washington Post the president’s claims were incorrect. “Trump called Corker early last week and asked him to reconsider his decision not to seek reelection, according to Womack. He said the president also reaffirmed that he would have endorsed Corker had he decided to run again—which, Womack added, was not the first time that Trump had extended such an offer of support,” the Post reported.

Corker had even more to say in an interview with the New York Times Sunday. “He concerns me,” Corker said of the president. “He would have to concern anyone who cares about our nation.” He also added to his comments about the group of administration officials who “contain” the chaos of the president. ““I know for a fact that every single day at the White House, it’s a situation of trying to contain him,” Corker told the Times.

The media response to Corker’s swipes at Trump has been something like fascination at the two-term Republican’s willingness to call out the leader of his own party, especially since he has been less critical of Trump than even your average GOP senator. His comments are being interpreted as saying out loud what many Republicans on Capitol Hill have been saying privately for months. Since Corker recently announced his retirement, it has lent an air of Bulworth-ness to the Tennessean’s outspokenness.

But it’s worth remembering that long before he was thought of as a possible secretary of State (or even a possible running mate for Trump), Corker did a lot of blocking and tackling on behalf of the future Republican nominee.

In early March 2016, when it looked as if Trump could win the nomination, some Republicans began to talk publicly about ways to stop him. Corker, who had not endorsed anyone in the primary, issued a statement. “Here’s my message to the Republican Party leaders: Focus more on listening to the American people and less on trying to stifle their voice,” he said. “What’s happening in the Republican primary is the result of two things: the fecklessness and ineptness of the Washington establishment in failing to address the big issues facing our country and years of anger with the overreach of the Obama administration. And to be candid, I think the American people should be angrier than they are.”

The Trump campaign loved it—with Donald Trump’s Facebook page posting the statement in full.

Nearly two months later, in late April 2016, Corker praised a major foreign policy speech by Trump, which he hailed as “challenging the foreign policy establishment that has been here for so long.” He also criticized those Republicans still looking for a way to defeat Trump in the primary, which the New York businessman was on his way to winning. “I have been repulsed by those who try to direct the electoral process in a certain direction and say, ‘Well, no matter what people do, we’re going to cause this to happen at the convention,’” Corker told CNN’s Erin Burnett. “To me, that’s inappropriate.”

In May, Trump met with Corker, stoking rumors the senator was in the running to be Trump’s vice presidential pick. Later on in July, Corker withdrew himself from consideration for vice president, suggesting publicly that Ivanka Trump, Donald Trump’s oldest daughter, would be Trump’s “best running mate.”

But this was all before the “chaos” of the Trump administration.

Trump Tweet of the Day

Vice President Mike Pence jumped into the NFL protest controversy on Sunday, taking a brief hiatus from events on the West Coast to attend and then walk out of an Indianapolis Colts game after some players knelt during the National Anthem.

The vice president said on Twitter that he did not want to “dignify any event that disrespects our soldiers, our flag, or our National Anthem.”

The walkout appeared to be orchestrated from the start: Pool reporters covering the vice president were instructed to stay in their vans and were told by a staffer that “there may be an early departure from the game.”

The vice president earlier posted a picture of himself and his wife Karen Pence in Colts paraphernalia, saying that the two were “looking forward to cheering for our Colts.” The picture was actually taken in 2014, however.

President Trump praised Pence’s actions on Twitter Sunday afternoon, saying the walk-out was his idea:

Hollywood Watch—Harvey Weinstein has been fired from the Weinstein Company, the production company he started in 2005 with his brother Robert. “In light of new information about misconduct by Harvey Weinstein that has emerged in the past few days, the directors of The Weinstein Company—Robert Weinstein, Lance Maerov, Richard Koenigsberg and Tarak Ben Ammar—have determined, and have informed Harvey Weinstein, that his employment with The Weinstein Company is terminated, effective immediately,” reads a statement from the company.

The “new information” was revealed in the New York Times last week, and included several on-the-record accusations, going back decades, to sexual harassment by Weinstein toward young women in the movie business.

2018 Watch—Could Wyoming Republican senator John Barrasso be getting a primary challenger? The New York Times says Blackwater founder Erik Prince is considering it. “He has been urged to run next year by Stephen K. Bannon, who is leading the effort to shake up the Republican leadership with financial backing from the New York hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah,” reports the Times.

Song of the Day—“Le Freak” by Chic.