A hot mic caught Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., saying that the Republican Party is “toast” if it embraces President Trump and Roy Moore.
ABC affiliate KNXV captured the remarks on video while Flake was conversing with Mesa Mayor John Giles.
“If we become the party of Roy Moore and Donald Trump, we are toast,” he said at a tax reform event in Mesa, Ariz., on Friday.
Flake, a vocal Republican critic of Trump, said this week that he “no doubt” would support a Democrat over the embattled Moore.
He later tweeted about the hot mic report that there is “no news here,” as several journalists had already noted, because he has made similar comments about Moore “to anyone who will listen.”
No news here. I’ve been saying this to anyone who will listen https://t.co/50klmeSm5a
— Jeff Flake (@JeffFlake) November 18, 2017
Moore, the Republican nominee in the special election contest to fill Alabama’s vacant U.S. Senate seat, is facing numerous allegations by women who claim he pursued romantic or sexual relationships with them as teenage girls while he was in his 30’s. Moore denies any wrongdoing and has resisted calls by top Republican lawmakers, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, to drop out.
Trump has been largely silent on Moore, but was quick to criticize Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., this week after a journalist accused him of groping and kissing her without consent more than 10 years ago. Trump has also faced numerous women accusing him of sexual misconduct over the years.
