Former GOP Senator Delivers Pointed Rebuke of Trump While Endorsing Harris: He’s Fixated On ‘Grievances of the Past’
Screenshot/X
Former Republican Senator Jeff Flake ripped former President Donald Trump and offered his full endorsement to Vice President Kamala Harris in a video he posted on social media Sunday morning.
The former GOP lawmaker, whose feud with Trump grabbed headlines after the 2016 election, touted himself as a strong conservative. He recalled his time serving Arizona in the House and Senate before becoming the Biden administration’s ambassador to Turkey.
He then took a shot at Trump while praising Harris and her running mate, Democratic Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.
“Having spent the past three years overseas as a U.S. Ambassador, I’ve seen up close that we have very real enemies abroad,” Flake said in a statement he posted on X (formerly Twitter). “We also have vital and indispensable allies. I want to support a Presidential candidate who understands and appreciates the difference.”
Flake said he valued national unity, which Trump was incapable of delivering but there Harris and Walz could offer a divided country. He also complained of Trump running a campaign built on “grievances of the past.”
“For all of these reasons, I will be supporting Kamala Harris for president and Tim Walz for vice president,” Flake said, recalling his time serving with each of them in the House and the Senate.
“I know them. I know firsthand of their fine character and their love of country,” he said of Harris and Walz. “I would encourage all Republicans who feel this way to do the same. After all, in times like these, there is nothing more conservative than putting country over party.”
Amid tensions with Trump. Flake announced in 2017 that he would not seek another term representing Arizona in the Senate. CNN reported at the time:
Flake was critical of Trump during the 2016 campaign and has clashed with the President regularly over the past year, criticisms he wrote about in his book, “Conscience of a Conservative.” The senator announced last month that he would not run for reelection next year, delivering a blistering speech on the Senate floor that bemoaned the “coarsening” tenor of politics in the United States.
