Flake: ‘I didn’t vote for this president last November’

Outgoing Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said on Wednesday he did not vote for President Trump in the 2016 presidential election, just one day after he ripped the president on the Senate floor and announced he would not be seeking reelection. 

“I didn’t vote for this president last November,” Flake told NBC’s Matt Lauer on “Today,” adding that he did not vote for Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton either. 

{mosads}

“I am a Republican. I am a conservative. I would love to have a Republican president, but not at any cost,” he said. 

Flake would not say whether he thought it would be better if Clinton had become president. 

“I can tell you no president, Democrat or Republican, in recent memory has exhibited the kind of behavior that this president has,” the senator said. 

Flake’s comments come just one day after he announced he would be leaving the Senate when his term ends in 2019 and tore into the president in a scathing speech on Capitol Hill.

The Arizona senator characterized Trump’s behavior as “reckless, outrageous and undignified behavior has been excused.”

Flake joined retiring Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) in attacking Trump. 

“I think at the end of the day, when his term is over, I think the debasing of our nation, the constant nontruth-telling, the name calling … the debasement of our nation will be what he will be remembered most for, and that’s regretful,” Corker told CNN’s Manu Raju.

Trump hit back at the two senators in a tweet on Wednesday, saying they had “zero chance” of being reelected in 2018.

The reason Flake and Corker dropped out of the Senate race is very simple, they had zero chance of being elected. Now act so hurt & wounded!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 25, 2017