Authored By Alina Hunter-Grah
During a Friday visit to Chattanooga Christian School, U.S. Senator Bob Corker shared his views on several topics, including the probe into Russia’s possible interference in the 2016 election. Last week, as part of the investigation, which is run by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, President Donald Trump’s former campaign manager Paul Manafort was found guilty on several counts of financial fraud and his former lawyer Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to more financial crimes and for trying to influence the 2016 presidential election. Following these outcomes, Trump took to Twitter to criticize the Justice Department and Attorney General Jeff Sessions. During Corker’s visit to the St. Elmo school, he said that he knows the daily criticism has been rough on Sessions and said the rhetoric is generally detrimental to the country. “I think it’s been very damaging to the justice system to have a president undermine [it] and it degrades our nation,” Corker said Friday. “It’s going to have some long-term effects.” He also said he thinks his fellow Republican senators will likely work with Democrats to take action if Mueller concludes Trump has been involved in illegal activities. If Mueller ascertains that Trump may have broken the law, there are a few options. He can leave the decision about what should happen up to Congress. He could ask a grand jury to consider Trump a co-conspirator and send a report to Congress or he could indict the president, according to The New York Times. “This shouldn’t be a partisan issue,” he said. “In the event that there’s some type of corruption — whether that’s obstruction of justice, collusion, money laundering or whatever — that people on both sides of the aisle would say that, ‘Sure, if something has shown that to be wrong then it’s our job as senators to respond in appropriate ways.’ Moving into a partisan type of thing is incorrect.” Corker also touched on a few other topics during his time at the school. Human trafficking Corker has long worked to end human trafficking, and he’s striving to make progress on this issue before his retirement from the Senate. He said he’s trying to push along some new legislation that would provide more funding to global efforts to end the problem. “We’re putting together a global fund to end modern slavery so we can use best practices...” Corker said. Betsy DeVos and federal funding for guns in schools Corker said that he was waiting for more information before making a comment about a recent New York Times report that Education Secretary Betsy DeVos was looking into allowing states to use federal funding to put guns in schools. The New York Times article received some pushback from the Trump Administration after officials said the plan did not originate with the Department of Education or DeVos. However, Corker did say he would be against the plan should the plan be found to be real. Going home on the weekends Corker said, like the other 75 percent of senators, he tries to come home to Chattanooga every weekend he’s not flying to different countries for work related to his position as the chairman of the foreign relations committee. He said this practice is important for understanding the mindset of his constituents. “I think in today’s age, it’s good to go home and see people in the grocery store, the dry cleaners or around your communities and be able to stay in constant contact,” he said. “So, it’s important to me, anyway.” Corker also said that once he’s finished in Washington D.C. in January, he’ll be making the trip back home where he plans to stay for good. President Donald Trump and LeBron James Corker criticized Trump’s response to basketball superstar LeBron James’ comments that the president is using sports to divide the country. The senator condemned the behavior and said that Trump has a habit of picking fights in order to rally support from some of his followers. “I think the president has a tendency to get involved in issues that maybe presidents shouldn’t get involved in,” Corker said. “Whether that’s [professional] football or [professional] basketball, I don’t know what, there’s just something in his DNA that causes him to want to pick fights.” Alina Hunter-Grah is a contributing writer. She is a graduate of The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, where she received a bachelor’s degree in communication with a minor in political science. Alina has over three years of journalism experience including time spent with CNN and 2nd & Church, a magazine based in Nashville, Tennessee. You can reach Alina at ahuntergrah@gmail.com or on Twitter @alinahuntergrah.
