President Donald Trump criticized outgoing Republican Sens. Jeff Flake and Bob Corker for their long-standing attacks on him, while talking to reporters Wednesday.
Both senators have regularly attacked the president, and they both opted to retire instead of seeking re-election in the 2018 midterm elections.
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“So I think that Mitt Romney hopefully will be a team player and if he’s not, that’s okay, too,” Trump said. “Look, I handle it. I just got rid of — I would’nt say that — they say they’re retired. They say that Bob Corker retired. They say that Jeff Flake, wonderful guy. I never met him and he’s hitting me.”
“He was going to tell people how to win in 2020 because 2016 — he wrote a book about it. Didn’t work out to well, that book, because we won in 2016 because we didn’t want to wait till 2020. So Jeff Flake is now selling real estate, or whatever he’s doing. He’ll probably go to work for CNN. That’s my prediction,” he continued.
WASHINGTON, DC – JANUARY 02: U.S. President Donald Trump (L) leads a meeting of his Cabinet, including (2nd L-R) acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, in the Cabinet Room at the White House January 02, 2019 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
Last week, Flake told CNN’s Jim Acosta that he hasn’t ruled out a presidential campaign in 2020.
“Bob Corker, unfortunately, and I had a good relationship then. He thought he would get some publicity for himself and his ratings tubed where he couldn’t come in fourth in the primary. He was going to be a senator,” Trump added. “Bob Corker was going to be a senator for another 20 years. Then for some reason, he hit me because he thought it was going to be good publicity. Didn’t work out too well.”