Flake: GOP needs to speak out against Moore’s comments

A Republican senator is calling on his colleagues to denounce comments made by Alabama GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore.

In a Thursday interview with The Atlantic at the Washington Ideas Forum, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said he is “troubled” by some of the comments that Moore has made in the past, such as furthering the conspiracy theory that President Obama was not born in the U.S. and saying that Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) should not serve in Congress because he is Muslim.

“I think that when we disagree with something so fundamental like that, we ought to stand up and say, that’s not right, that’s not our party, that is not us,” Flake said.

{mosads}Moore won a runoff Senate primary in Alabama this week, beating establishment candidate and current Sen. Luther Strange (R-Ala.), whom President Trump backed during the special election campaign.

“When somebody says that members of our body, the Congress, the House of Representatives, shouldn’t be there, and to try and apply a religious test … Republicans ought to stand up and say, that’s not right,” Flake said.

Flake, who is up for reelection in 2018, is a frequent critic of the president, and Trump has used social media and in-person speeches to fire back, calling him “toxic” and “weak” on crime and immigration.