Sen. Corker Shocked Silent After Learning of Trump Tweets Calling Qatar a State Sponsor of Terror
Here's Sen. Bob Corker, shaking his head, as he reads Trump's tweet about Qatar on a reporter's phone. pic.twitter.com/i5vAqIuDK9
— Jennifer Bendery (@jbendery) June 6, 2017
While speaking to reporters earlier today, Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) was completely shocked over recent tweets sent by President Donald Trump, as his conversation with the press was the first time he was made aware Trump’s statements.
Just to set the stage, the president sent out a handful of tweets this morning related to recent news that a number of Middle East countries were cutting ties with Qatar over allegations that the country’s government is sponsoring terrorism. Despite Qatar being an ally of the United States, Trump took to Twitter to both take credit for the other countries’ actions while also accusing Qatar of being a state sponsor of terror.
During my recent trip to the Middle East I stated that there can no longer be funding of Radical Ideology. Leaders pointed to Qatar – look!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2017
So good to see the Saudi Arabia visit with the King and 50 countries already paying off. They said they would take a hard line on funding…
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2017
…extremism, and all reference was pointing to Qatar. Perhaps this will be the beginning of the end to the horror of terrorism!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) June 6, 2017
Corker, who is the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was stunned into silence when members of the media told him about the tweets and then physically showed him. Below are reporters’ accounts of their encounter with Corker:
Just informed Senate Foreign Relations Chair Corker of what Trump tweeted about Qatar and was met with about 8 seconds of stunned silence
— Matt Laslo (@MattLaslo) June 6, 2017
So, reporters asked SFRC chair Corker about Trump's Qatar tweets. (silence). via @ivancouronne pic.twitter.com/9fqy8lfF8e
— Dave Clark (@DaveClark_AFP) June 6, 2017
Corker: “When did that occur?” Reporters: This morning, also tweeted support of Saudi Arabia, took credit for split
— Emma Loop (@LoopEmma) June 6, 2017
Corker: [long pause] “I want to go back and see specifically what he has said."
— Emma Loop (@LoopEmma) June 6, 2017
Corker pointed out that he wanted to go back and see what the president said, but as can be seen in HuffPost’s Jennifer Bendery’s video above, he was shown the tweets and could only silently shake his head.
It should be noted that during today’s White House press briefing, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer explained that any tweets sent out by Trump are “official statements by the president.”
[image via screengrab]
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