Bob Corker says he finally understands 'fake news' after press scrutinizes his support for Republican tax bill

Bob Corker.
(Image credit: Alex Wong/Getty Images)

Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) has been a vocal critic of President Trump, but apparently the process of passing the Republican tax bill has made him see the president in a new light. Politico reported Thursday that Corker, like Trump, now believes that he's been subjected to unfair attacks by the media for supporting his party's tax reform bill.

Corker had initially vowed that he would not vote for a bill that added "one penny to the deficit." But in the Senate's vote Wednesday, he indeed approved the measure, which experts have estimated will add more than $1 trillion to the federal debt. Last Saturday, International Business Times reported that Corker voted in favor of tax reform only after an amendment was added to the bill that personally benefited him by creating a tax break for commercial real estate owners.

Corker has "significant real estate investments and would stand to benefit significantly from the new provision," Politico reported. Before the end of the weekend, the tax break had a name: "the Corker kickback."

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

Over the last week, Corker was forced to defend his sudden support of the bill against insinuations that the senator had demanded the amendment's inclusion in exchange for his vote. Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch (R) eventually admitted to being the amendment's author, but that didn't stop CNN's Wolf Blitzer from pressing a clearly bothered Corker on Tuesday about his motivations for voting for the Republican tax bill.

The whole kerfuffle apparently prompted Corker to tell Trump that he'd finally seen the light. On Thursday morning, Corker went on the president's favorite show, Fox & Friends, to discuss the tax bill. "I've never used in my life the word 'fake news' until today," he told the hosts. "I actually understand what it is the president has been dealing with."

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us
Kelly O'Meara Morales

Kelly O'Meara Morales is a staff writer at The Week. He graduated from Sarah Lawrence College and studied Middle Eastern history and nonfiction writing amongst other esoteric subjects. When not compulsively checking Twitter, he writes and records music, subsists on tacos, and watches basketball.