An adviser to Howard Schultz on Tuesday slammed President Trump Donald John TrumpUS reimposes UN sanctions on Iran amid increasing tensions Jeff Flake: Republicans 'should hold the same position' on SCOTUS vacancy as 2016 Trump supporters chant 'Fill that seat' at North Carolina rally MORE over a tweet Trump sent this week attacking the former Starbucks CEO.

Bill Burton, during an interview on CNN's "Erin Burnett OutFront," called the tweet "childish games" and said Schultz's main priority is defeating Trump. Schultz has said he is seriously considering running for president as an independent in 2020.

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Trump in a tweet Monday said Schultz "doesn't have the 'guts' to run" for president.

"You have a president who is setting an awful tone on Twitter. It's taking everybody else down in the gutter with him," Burton said when asked about the tweet.

"Howard Schultz didn't respond to that tweet because he doesn't think that childish games deserve a response. He's not going to respond to a lot of the childishness on the internet," Burton continued.

"There's nothing more important to him than beating Donald Trump. He thinks he's fundamentally unfit for office and will do anything he can to stop it."

- @HowardSchultz's political adviser, @BillBurton, on the potential presidential candidate.https://t.co/fnCA2sUmea pic.twitter.com/gkoOAc94VV — OutFrontCNN (@OutFrontCNN) January 29, 2019

Burton added that he wasn't "taking off the table that [Schultz will] never respond to a Trump tweet."

"It's so foolish we even have to talk about it because of who the president is. But I'm saying that [Schultz] is trying to elevate this debate. There's nothing more important to him than beating Donald Trump. He thinks he’s fundamentally unfit for office," Burton said.

Schultz gave a similar response to the tweet when he was asked about it Monday, calling it "childish" during a CNBC interview in New York.

“I’m not going to respond to that. It’s childish. I’m not trying to win the Twitter primary,” Schultz said.