Republican Senator Wishes Party Stood Up to Trump’s Birtherism Claims
Reoublican Senator Jeff Flake stopped by NBC’s “Meet the Press” to talk about his new book, and spoke about Trump’s birtherism statements about former President Barack Obama.
The host Chuck Todd sked the Arizona senator if the GOP is afraid to put country over party.
“Well, I do think that we’ve seen more people ready to stand up. And I wish that we, as a party, would have stood up, for example, when the birtherism thing was going along. A lot of people did stand up but not enough,” Flake told Todd.
Flake said the birther movement “was particularly ugly.”
Trump promoted the claim for many years, until he rejected it during the presidential campaign.
“President Barack Obama was born in the United States,” Trump said at the end of a campaign event last September. “Period.”
Flake on Sunday also denounced the “lock her up” chants about Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, which could be heard at Trump rallies during the 2016 election.
You can watch the interview here:
Sen. @jeffflake (R-Ariz.) tells @chucktodd in an exclusive interview, "I wish we as a party had stood up" to the birther movement. #MTP pic.twitter.com/LfIABvICFj
— Meet the Press (@MeetThePress) August 6, 2017
