Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman Bob Corker launches thinly veiled attack on Donald Trump's 'chaos'

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Bob Corker has launched a thinly veiled attack on Donald Trump and hinted the president is responsible for much of the chaos in the administration.

The Senate Foreign Relations Chairman, who is a former ally of President Trump, suggested White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, James Mattis, and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson are the “people that help help separate our country from chaos”.

When asked by a reporter if he was referring to President Trump when he mentioned chaos, Mr Corker was unable to deny that he was alluding to him.

The Republican said: "(Mattis, Kelly and Tillerson) work very well together to make sure the policies we put forth around the world are sound and coherent.”

He added: “There are other people within the administration that don't. I hope they stay because they're valuable to the national security of our nation."

The Tennessee Senator, who recently announced he would not run for re-election in 2018, took aim at the US president for undermining Mr Tillerson.

Tension between President Trump and Mr Tillerson over how the US should resolve the North Korea crisis has reached a head in recent days. After the Secretary of State said Washington was in talks to end the missile crisis with North Korea, President Trump suggested his diplomatic efforts would fail.

"I told Rex Tillerson, our wonderful Secretary of State, that he is wasting his time trying to negotiate with Little Rocket Man," President Trump tweeted on Sunday morning.

He added: “Save your energy Rex, we’ll do what has to be done!”

Mr Corker has now said Mr Tillerson is "in an incredibly frustrating place," adding: "He ends up not being supported in the way I would hope a secretary of state would be supported ... He's in a very trying situation - trying to solve many of the world's problems without the support and help I'd like to see him have."

His comments come on the same day Mr Tillerson held an impromptu press conference to dismiss reports he has ever considered resigning from his role but also refused to deny that he had called the President a "moron" in a fit of rage during the summer.

Mr Corker, who was once a vice presidential contender for the billionaire businessman, has openly criticised Mr Trump before.

Days after the president blamed “both sides” for the deadly violence in Charlottesville which erupted in August, Mr Corker said: "The president has not yet been able to demonstrate the stability nor some of the competence that he needs to demonstrate in order to be successful”.

He remained steadfastly committed to the remarks when pressed about them later, saying he did not regret them.

"I stand by those words," he said, adding that he visited the White House recently and discussed it directly with President Trump.

He said: "When I met with the President a week ago Friday, I said, 'Mr. President I stand by what I said’”.

At the end of September, Mr Corker announced he would be stepping down. "After much thought, consideration and family discussion over the past year, Elizabeth and I have decided that I will leave the United States Senate when my term expires at the end of 2018," he said in a statement.