Sen. Jeff Flake to Donald Trump: 'This is not what the party stands for'

Sen. Jeff Flake, who has been an outspoken Republican critic of presumptive GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, told Trump on Thursday to halt his rhetorical attacks on Mexicans during a dramatic face-to-face exchange in Washington, D.C.

Flake, R-Ariz., also defended his colleague Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., during the closed-door meeting with Senate Republicans. McCain did not attend the GOP session.

Trump belittled McCain's status as a former prisoner of war last year, saying he likes people who don't get captured.

"My position is somebody needs to stand up and say this is not what the party stands for," Flake later told The Arizona Republic and azcentral.com.

"When he (Trump) refers to a judge born in Indiana as a Mexican in a pejorative way, when he calls those crossing the border rapists or when he goes after McCain, somebody has to stand up and say, 'This is not the Republican Party,' " Flake added. "Because we'll have elections beyond this one, too, and we can't associate ourselves with those kinds of comments and be a serious national party."

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The back-and-forth between Trump and Flake was first reported by the Washington Post, which described the conversation as tense.

Flake said he stood up after Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., called on him to ask a question. The Post's account of what followed was accurate and "virtually verbatim," Flake said.

According to the Post, Trump told Flake: “You’ve been very critical of me." To which Flake responded: "Yes, I’m the other senator from Arizona — the one who didn’t get captured — and I want to talk to you about statements like that."

The Post also reported that after Trump suggested he might start publicly attacking Flake, Flake shot back "by urging him to stop attacking Mexicans." And after Trump said Flake was headed for a re-election loss, Flake pointed out that he wasn't running this year, according to the Post's sources in the room.

"I mentioned in there that I still hope to be able to support the nominee, but it's becoming increasingly difficult to think that that's possible," Flake told The Republic. "It's not a comfortable position to be in, to not be supportive of the Republican nominee."

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Neither Flake nor McCain, who is supporting the nominee, plan to attend the Republican National Convention, which is set to begin July 18 in Cleveland.

"The statement about McCain — he's never apologized for that," Flake told The Republic. "And that's just beyond the pale, frankly. McCain's a good man."

McCain didn't attend the Trump gathering in Washington because it conflicted with a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing.

"By the way, I did have that hearing scheduled," McCain said. "We schedule hearings weeks ahead of time."

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Flake said he has gotten a mixed reaction from Arizona Republicans for his outspoken posture against Trump.

"There are some who applaud and some who are upset," Flake said. "I'm certainly not supportive of (Democratic presumptive nominee) Hillary (Clinton)."