Corker on Trump: 'Irresponsible' to 'publicly castrate' secretary of State

Source: The Hill

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) ripped President Trump on Friday over his relationship with Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, denouncing moves by the president to "publicly castrate" his chief diplomat.

In an interview with The Washington Post, the Senate Foreign Relations chairman said Trump’s actions are creating “binary” choices between going to war with countries like North Korea and Iran, or allowing those countries to obtain nuclear weapons.

“You cannot publicly castrate your own secretary of state without giving yourself that binary choice,” Corker told the Post. “The tweets — yes, you raise tension in the region [and] it’s very irresponsible. But it’s the first part that I am most exercised about.”

Corker praised Tillerson in the interview, saying the former Exxon Mobil CEO is doing “phenomenal” things for the U.S. diplomatic relationship with China. But the Tennessee Republican said Trump’s actions are causing those efforts to “fall apart.”

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Read more: http://thehill.com/homenews/senate/355418-corker-on-trump-irresponsible-to-publicly-castrate-secretary-of-state