On Wednesday, former Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) sharply criticized his erstwhile colleagues in the Washington Post for failing to act in any meaningful way to restrain President Donald Trump during a week in which he has retaliated against impeachment witnesses, weaponized the Justice Department, and allegedly worked to strong-arm prosecutors out of a sentencing recommendation for his former campaign strategist Roger Stone.
“It should be a big moment for Republicans who have argued against this textbook concentration of power for years, whether it’s dealing with our government or autocratic governments abroad,” said Flake. “But I don’t see it. There is so much fatigue, in terms of challenging the president.”
Flake, who retired from the Senate in 2019, was legislatively a supporter of Trump, voting for nearly all of his desired bills and judicial nominees. However, he consistently criticized the president for his attacks on independent institutions and the rule of law, which made him an enemy of Trump and his supporters.
In his final months of office, he blocked judicial nominees in an attempt to force Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) to take up bills to prevent Trump from firing special counsel Robert Mueller — a gambit that failed when McConnell simply ran out the clock to his exit from office and the arrival of a slightly larger Republican majority.
