Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN), the chair of the Foreign Relations committee who has been supportive of Donald Trump’s candidacy, said it was “wrong” for Trump to attack a federal judge on the basis of ethnicity. But Corker also told reporters Tuesday on Capitol Hill that he was “hopeful” Trump was “going to move into a very different place.”
“I’m hopeful that when you see me in three weeks here in the hallway this is not the conversation we’re having, but we are having a conversation about policies,” he said.
Earlier in the day, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R-WI) called Trump’s claims that U.S. District Court Judge Gonzalo Curiel was biased against the real estate mogul because of his Mexican heritage “the textbook definition of a racist comment.”
Asked if he agreed with the speaker, Corker reiterated that he did not condone “what has occurred” with Trump in the last few days.
“In every case the media tries to get people to define what it is. I have seen it before,” he said. “And I am just not going to play that game. It’s wrong and I don’t condone it.”
Asked what would happen if he was having that same conversation about Trump three weeks from now, the Tennessee senator said Trump has “a period of time where he can assess and understand the incredible opportunity thats before him and he can change directions.”
“If not, if he starts moving closer to the convention and it’s similar, I think it’s very problematic,” Corker said.
His comments came hours after he repeatedly refused to say whether he thought that, at this point, Trump was “fit to be president” in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
