"i'll work with him when we need to but also push back when i need to," sen. jeff flake said. | getty by burgess everett 11/10/16 06:14 pm est arizona sen. jeff flake said he doesn't expect retribution from president-elect donald trump <u+2014> and he's on his "second helping" of eating crow after being one of trump's loudest critics. in an interview on thursday evening, flake said that he can work with trump on repealing obamacare, curtailing regulations and even immigration reform, where the arizona republican has backed policies well to the left of trump's positions. asked whether he expected punishment after being one of trump's loudest and most persistent critics, flake said: "no." story continued below "i'll work with him when we need to but also push back when i need to," said flake, who has already drawn a primary opponent, kelli ward, a strong trump supporter who lost a primary challenge to sen. john mccain (r-ariz.) earlier this year. "there will obviously be areas of disagreement, but there are also lots of areas of agreement," flake said. the gop senator said he expected to have an obamacare repeal on trump's desk from "day one" and that congress and the trump white house would work in tandem to cut regulations. on immigration <u+2014> which trump said on thursday would be a priority in his administration <u+2014> flake said he's optimistic, even though "there's not going to be a 700-mile wall. he knows that." president barack obama's expiring immigration actions will be "forced on us immediately," said flake, who was a member of the bipartisan gang of eight that labored for months to strike an immigration deal. and then he hopes to work with trump on border security, e-verify, guest worker programs and even undocumented immigrants. it was a hopeful tone from one of trump's sharpest critics, who even clashed with trump in-person earlier this year during a meeting on capitol hill. "i thought he gave a great speech," flake said of his acceptance remarks, even "reaching out to those who opposed." flake also spoke to several other national outlets on thursday, signaling an effort to put his past conflicts with trump behind him. by bill scher by thomas wright by joshua zeitz by jack shafer
flake has no fear of retribution from trump - politico
burgess everett jack shafer