Trump lashes out at Schumer: So funny to watch him ‘groveling’

President Trump on Thursday went after Senate Minority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.), saying it is “funny to watch” him “groveling” and highlighting the Democratic leader’s past criticisms of former FBI Director James Comey.

So funny to watch Schumer groveling. He called for the firing of bad cop James Comey many times – UNTIL I FIRED HIM!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) January 17, 2019 

Trump tweeted earlier in the day that the “Left has become totally unhinged.”

Schumer said of Comey in November 2016 that he did not “have confidence in him any longer” after the then-FBI director reopened an investigation into then-Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton just days before the election. 

“To restore my faith, I am going to have to sit down and talk to him and get an explanation for why he did this,” Schumer said at the time.

It’s not clear what prompted Trump’s tweet Thursday morning. He has clashed with Schumer in recent weeks over negotiations during the ongoing partial government shutdown, which entered its 27th day on Thursday.

Schumer on Wednesday said he hasn’t heard from Trump since a meeting earlier this month that the president walked out of and called a “waste of time” after Democrats refused his demand to fund a wall along the southern border. 

Schumer also indicated on Wednesday that he would oppose Trump’s pick for attorney general, William Barr, amid concerns over how he would handle special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

“We do not have the kind of strong and clear commitments to the report being issued and there being no interference in the investigation that are needed, particularly now with President Trump treating the Justice Department as he has,” Schumer said.

In his explanation, Schumer repeatedly mentioned Trump’s attacks on the Justice Department. The president earlier this week decried Comey as a “dirty cop,” and called agents who launched an inquiry into whether he was working for Russia “known scoundrels.”

“I think when we have a president like Trump who has treated the Justice Department as poorly as he has, who has tried to browbeat it into doing what he wants despite rule of law, that you need somebody who reaches a really high standard,” Schumer told reporters. “And while (Barr) has had a very fine career, when he refuses to commit to those things that I mentioned, he does not meet that standard.”