GOP Sen. Coburn Calls Harry Reid 'Dishonest' and a 'Failure' as Leader -- and Now Reid Has Responded

Sen. Tom Coburn of Oklahoma (AP File)

Oklahoma Republican Sen. Tom Coburn made clear his thoughts of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Thursday morning, calling the Nevada Democrat "dishonest" and a "failure" as majority leader.

“Harry Reid is a nice guy. I like him,” Coburn said on MSNBC's Morning Joe Thursday. “But I think he has been a failure as a majority leader for the Senate in terms of keeping the history of the Senate and the progress of the Senate in line with what it was intended to be by our founders.”

The Oklahoma Republican called into question the Major Leader's truthfulness after the Senate rejected Wednesday an amendment to a water bill put forth by Coburn that would allow firearms on Army Corps of Engineers water resources facilities if it didn’t conflict with state law.

“I think that has been Harry Reid’s mode of operation the last seven years,” Coburn said Thursday after accusing Reid of running operations in the Senate not to pass legislation, but to produce a partisan outcome to prepare for the 2014 election. “He has been dishonest with me, not truthful, not kept his word. He’s played games, you know? We’ve done our own damage to that in response to it. So what we have is people pointing fingers at each other.”

In turn, Reid fired back with a statement to POLITICO, accusing Coburn of being more interested in press attention than solving problems.

“I am extremely disappointed in my colleague, Senator Coburn, for his comments this morning,” Reid said. “If he wishes to raise concerns with me I would have hoped he would talk to me directly. He and every other Senator knows my door is always open. Sadly, Senator Coburn’s lack of discourse is perhaps an example that too many are more interested in media attention than they are in working to find consensus to fix our nation’s problems.”

Watch all of Coburn's explosive interview below:

Visit NBCNews.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy