CNN's Michael Smerconish Wonders If Bob Corker Is Plotting Trump's Removal from Office
09 October 2017
CNN’s Monday morning “New Day” began with a stunned host Alisyn Camerota calling Sen. Bob Corker’s (R-TN) conversation with the New York Times “extraordinary.”
“This is a top Republican who is unplugged now and saying things that people have only said off the record or whispered about in the halls of Congress,” Camerota said.
The Daily Beast's John Avlon agreed, suggesting the Tennessee senator "dropped the mic" on the president.
“This is the head of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee,” Avlon continued. “When he said that President Trump is courting World War III, and the White House is an adult day care center, and every day is an exercise in containment because the president treats it like a reality show — that’s not a Democrat playing partisan politics to criticize the president.”
He also echoed Camerota’s comment that many Republicans have been saying this for some time. "This is what people in the know in Washington are saying every day,” he said.
The New York Times interview quotes Corker admitting that he doesn’t know why Trump continues to tweet out things that aren’t true. “You know he does it, everyone knows he does it, but he does it,” Corker said.
CNN host Michael Smerconish explained that his training as an attorney leads him to believe that’s a comment about the president’s ability to do his job effectively.
“The lawyer in me hears something different. I’m thinking of the 25th Amendment, Section 4, which speaks to a president who is unable to discharge the powers of duties of his office,” Smerconish said. “Let’s just reflect on some of the word choices that senator made. Post-Charlottesville, he was questioning the stability of the president. Now he’s using the word ‘reckless, chaos.’ Now he is saying ‘he concerns me.’ I think he’s planting seeds for questioning the fitness, the mental fitness of the president pursuant to the 25th Amendment to continue with his responsibilities.”
Watch the conversation below: