WASHINGTON – Former Sen. Jeff Flake, who has been a harsh critic of Donald Trump, is calling for Republicans on Capitol Hill to announce that they will no longer support the president’s reelection campaign regardless of the outcome of the Trump impeachment inquiry.

“My fellow Republicans, it is time to risk your careers in favor of your principles,” Flake wrote in an op-ed published in the Washington Post Monday. “Whether you believe the president deserves impeachment, you know he does not deserve reelection.”

Flake retired from Congress this year, after announcing in 2017 that he wouldn’t seek reelection due to the nastiness of Trump-era politics. 

The Arizona Republican noted in his op-ed that his constituents wanted a Senator that would support Trump, and that if he had tried to seek reelection he would “need to support policies I could not support and condone behavior I could not condone.” He said that he is now paying the cost for not supporting the president.

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“I am not oblivious to the consequences that might accompany that decision,” he wrote of not endorsing Trump. “In fact, I am living those consequences. I would have preferred to represent the citizens of Arizona for another term in the Senate.

“But not at the cost of supporting this man,” he continued.

Flake also expressed that he has “grave reservations about impeachment” and believes it could be beneficial to Trump.

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“I fear that, given the profound division in the country, an impeachment proceeding at such a toxic moment might actually benefit a president who thrives on chaos,” Flake wrote. “Disunion is the oxygen of this presidency. He is the maestro of a brand of discord that benefits only him and ravages everything else.”

On Friday, Flake said he believes that at least 35 Republican senators would vote to have Trump removed from office if they could vote in private. 

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi last week announced the House was opening an impeachment inquiry into Trump following revelations from a whistleblower complaint. The complaint expressed concern that Trump attempted to use his power as president for political gain by urging Ukraine to open an investigation that could be damaging to former Vice President Joe Biden, who is running for president.

Flake said that at this point, Trump’s conduct as commander-in-chief “should not surprise us.” But noted the “tolerance of that conduct” and the “embrace of it” is “perhaps the most horrible — and lasting — effect on our democracy.”

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Flake continued to say that “we have failed not just as stewards of the institutions to which we have been entrusted but also as citizens,” adding that Republicans “have failed each other, and we have failed ourselves.”

“For those who want to put America first, it is critically important at this moment in the life of our country that we all, here and now, do just that,” Flake concluded. “Trust me when I say that you can go elsewhere for a job. But you cannot go elsewhere for a soul.”

Contributing: Savannah Behrmann