White House deputy press secretary Raj Shah ripped Sen. Jeff Flake's speech on the Senate floor attacking President Donald Trump, calling the outgoing Arizona Republican's remarks "bordering on outrageous."
"We find Sen. Flake's comments disappointing," Shah told Harris Faulkner on Fox News. "They are, frankly, bordering on outrageous.
"In a country that is totalitarian, somebody who is opposing the president couldn't write a book, couldn't go on a media tour — and certainly couldn't sit on the Senate floor and attack the president of the United States.
"We live in a free country. We disagree with those who criticize us, but they are free to speak their minds."
In a blistering speech on the Senate floor, Flake condemned Trump's treatment of the media, which he frequently attacks and whose reports he rips as "fake news."
"We know well that no matter how powerful, no president will ever have dominion over objective reality," said Flake, a frequent critic of the president who is retiring after his term ends this year. "No politician will ever get us. Tell us what the truth is and what it is not.
"And anyone who presumes to try to attack or manipulate the press for his own purposes should be made to realize his mistake and to be held to account. That is our job here.
"That is just as Madison and Hamilton and Jay would have it.
"Of course, a major difference between politicians and free press is that the free press usually correct itself when it's made a mistake. Politicians don't.
"No longer can we compound the attacks on truth with our silent acquiescence," Flake said.
"No longer can we turn a blind eye or deaf ear to those assault on our institutions and an American president who cannot take criticism, who must constantly deflect and distort and distract who must find someone else to blame, is charting a very dangerous path.
"And a Congress that fails to act as a check on the president adds to that danger," the senator said.
In his response, Shah noted Flake's longtime supportive comments about the Castro regime in Cuba, including saying earlier this month that no evidence existed of "sonic attacks" on U.S. diplomats on the island.
"Sen. Flake was free to speak his mind only a few weeks ago, when he went down to Cuba and actually offered words of support for that oppressive regime.
"So, frankly, we reject Sen. Flake's criticism."
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