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Jeff Flake: ‘Treason is not a punchline, Mr. President’

By Pete Kasperowicz
Published February 6, 2018 8:22pm ET
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Jeff Flake: ‘Treason is not a punchline, Mr. President’
"One who levels such a charge knows neither the meaning of treason nor the power that the words of a president carry," said Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin) | Jacquelyn Martin

Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., criticized President Trump on the Senate floor Tuesday after Trump suggested Monday that Democrats who refused to stand up and applaud him during his State of the Union address were guilty of treason.

The White House said Tuesday Trump was joking, but Flake said there’s nothing funny about treason, or the way Trump was trying to accuse Democrats of treason.

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Congress Donald Trump Jeff Flake Pete Kasperowicz State of the Union