Jeff Flake Compares Trump's Words To Stalin's In Senate Speech

U.S. Sen. Jeff Flake, a Republican from Arizona who announced last year that he would not seek reelection and has since positioned himself as an outspoken critic of President Trump, delivered a speech on the Senate floor comparing Trump's criticism of the media to words used by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin.

Flake delivered the speech on Wednesday, the same day Trump said he would be awarding his "fake news" awards. "The interest in, and importance of, these awards is far greater than anyone could have anticipated!" Trump tweeted when he announced the day the would be giving out those awards.

In his speech. Flake called Trump's repeated attacks on the media "shameful" and "repulsive" and said Trump "has it precisely backward." Flake said despotism is the enemy of the people, while a free press is the despot's enemy and a guardian of democracy.

When Flake announced he would not be seeking reelection in October, he delivered a fiery speech from the Senate floor, denouncing the current state of politics and he addressed President Trump saying he would not be complicit.

"We must be unafraid to stand up and speak as if our country depends on it," he said. "Because it does.

"I plan to spend the remainig 14 months of my Senate term doing just that."

In an interview with Christiane Amanpour, Flake clarified that he was not comparing Trump to Stalin himself but said it puzzled him why the president would use a phrase so associated with someone like Stalin.

In the Alabama U.S. Senate election between Democrat Doug Jones and Republican Roy Moore, Flake made a $100 donation to Jones' campaign, posting a photo of the check to Twitter, which he captioned "country over party." Jones won the election. Moore had been accused of sexual misconduct going into the election but still maintained the support of Trump.

Flake is now working on a bipartisan immigration solution.

You can watch the full speech below:

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images News/Getty Images