Grassley tells Corker, Trump ‘to cool it’

WASHINGTON — Iowa Sen. Chuck Grassley is wagging a finger at his tweet-feuding Senate colleague Bob Corker and President Donald Trump, but asking Trump to set the tone.

Grassley was asked if the personal exchange between Corker of Tennessee and Trump was good for Republicans. He says, “I don’t see how it’s productive.”

“I think that two words would kind of answer your question from my point of view: Cool it,” Grassley said. “And I think it would help if the president would be the first to cool it.”

Trump and Corker went at it on Twitter on Sunday, with Trump saying the retiring Corker “didn’t have the guts” to run for a third term. Corker responded by saying, “it’s a shame the White House has become an adult day care center.

A few other Republican senators who provided public views Monday avoided aligning themselves with Corker.

“You’ll have to ask Sen. Corker what led him to make that statement. I haven’t made that statement,” Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida said of Corker’s suggestion that Trump could take the country into another world war.

Sen. Jeff Flake has been outspoken in his criticism of Trump, who’s attacked him in return. But the Arizona Republican was restrained during a joint interview with Rubio after a re-election fundraiser in Scottsdale.

“Any of us who’ve worked with Sen. Corker know that he speaks his mind,” Flake said, demurring on whether he shares Corker’s view that the White House has become an “adult day care center.”

“I agree with him on some things, I’ve supported a lot of his agenda, some things I’ve disagreed with and continue to do so,” Flake said of Trump.

The Associated Press sought to contact all 52 Republican senators Monday for their response to Corker’s comments and ask whether they believe Trump is fit for office, a question Corker declined to answer in the Times interview. With the Senate on recess this week and many offices closed for Columbus Day, the inquiries elicited few responses, and those who did largely declined comment.

Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina, chairman of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, criticized Corker, saying he finds “those type of comments to not be appropriate especially coming from the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, and certainly not in keeping with what I know of the way that things are conducted in the West Wing, having been there multiple times.”

“It’s really easy to be bold when you’re not coming back,” Meadows added of Corker.