Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), one of Donald Trump’s most outspoken critics in the Senate, met with vice presidential candidate Mike Pence last week, but still won’t throw his support behind the Republican nominee.
“Mike and I go way back. We came in the House together,” he said on CBS’ “Face the Nation.” “I certainly respect him. I still told him I’m not ready to support Donald Trump.”
Flake said that Pence told him that Trump is a “different guy” in private, but Flake said that wasn’t enough to convince him.
“If you can govern in private, I guess it would be OK, but you can’t, and so I do still have a problem with some of the statements that he’s making,” he said.
And he said that he hopes Pence has “influence” over Trump, but added that Trump himself still has “positions he needs to change.”
Flake said that Trump’s comments about Mexican immigrants and his attacks on the judge with Mexican heritage presiding over the Trump University case don’t “sit well” with Arizona voters.
“You can’t expect to win Arizona when you make statements like that,” Flake said. “You offend a large and growing demographic needlessly.”
When asked if he’s past the point where he would be able to back Trump, Flake said that he still hopes he can support the Republican nominee. But he added, “It’s becoming increasingly difficult to see that he’s going to make the changes that he needs.”
