Flake: Trump may need to rethink the wall

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) said Thursday that, while Republican lawmakers are united with President Trump on border security, the president may have to rethink his plans to simply build a massive wall along the U.S.-Mexico border.

Instead, Flake said on “Fox & Friends,” the president and Republicans in Congress need to first map out what a secure southern border would look like and acknowledge that a solid wall may not be the most feasible option. 

“I think the president and all of us share the same goal: to have a secure border,” he said. “And what we need to do is say, ‘What does that mean? Where do we need fences, where do we need sensors, where do we simply need surveillance to get a secure border?'”

{mosads}”That’s the goal,” added Flake, who is up for reelection next year. “Not to just fulfill a campaign promise of a wall.”

Trump has been treating Flake as a political enemy ever since the senator published a book critical of him. The president has tweeted support for one of Flake’s primary challengers, Kelli Ward, and reportedly met with two other Republicans who might jump into the race when he visited Phoenix on Tuesday. 

“I love the Great State of Arizona. Not a fan of Jeff Flake, weak on crime & border!” Trump tweeted Wednesday. 

Flake, for his part, has downplayed the criticism from the president even as his colleagues in the Senate have rallied to his defense.

As a presidential candidate, Trump vowed to erect a massive wall that stretched the length of the United States’ southern border as a bulwark against illegal immigration and drug trafficking. 

But that proposal faces several obstacles, including cost and geographical barriers. 

“It doesn’t make sense in certain areas, certainly in Arizona,” Flake said. “I’d love to show the president those areas.”

Trump has remained steadfast in his promise to build the wall, though he has conceded that, in some areas, fencing or surveillance tools would be more appropriate than a solid wall.

Flake’s comments came two days after Trump threatened to shut down the government over funding for the border wall.