Flake: Trump made ‘big mistake’ backing Moore

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) criticized President Trump for backing Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore (R) despite numerous allegations of sexual misconduct.

Speaking on Fox News Radio’s “The Brian Kilmeade Show,” Flake said Trump “made a big mistake” Tuesday by supporting Moore.

“I think he should distance himself from Roy Moore, even if it means loosing that seat,” Flake told host Brian Kilmeade.

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“I am on record saying I’d rather vote for a write-in Republican, I’d rather keep that seat Republican,” Flake added, “but if the choice was between Roy Moore and a Democrat, I would vote for the Democrat if I lived in Alabama.”

Trump told reporters on Tuesday that Moore denies the accusations made against him and that Alabama voters “don’t need a liberal” in the Senate seat.

“He denies it. He totally denies it,” Trump said Tuesday. “Roy Moore denies it — that’s all I can say.

“We don’t need a liberal person in there, a Democrat,” he added.

Flake said he finds the allegations of sexual misconduct from multiple women — including one who was 14 at the time — to be “credible.”

“Yeah, I think the victims are credible, and there are a number of them,” Flake said. “And I think to a person in Congress, my colleagues have been saying that the accusers are a lot more credible than Roy Moore.”

The Arizona Republican and frequent critic of the president told Kilmeade that Democrat Doug Jones’s liberal record was not justification enough to vote for Moore.

“I think that’s a justification we shouldn’t make,” Flake said. “Anybody who’s a sexual predator, if it seems that behavior is true, if it looks to be, is that of a sexual predator, then I don’t see how you can come down on his side.”

Moore has denied the allegations against him, which he says are an effort from Jones’s campaign and liberal journalists to discredit his campaign.