Jeff Flake in ABC This Week interviews during 2018

On Free Trade: Don't treat trade with Canada as national security threat

FLAKE: All I can tell you Republicans need to stand up on issues like tariffs facing us right now. We're if the nascent stages of a full-scale trade war. And the president simply seems to want to escalate. And it all stems to the steel and aluminum tariffs. Congress ought to stand up and say, "no, we're not going to do that." You can't use section 232 to claim that Canada is a national security threat. That's not who we are. [Sec. 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962 makes exceptions for national security]

Q: But congress hasn't stood up on tariffs, and the President is disregarding Republican orthodoxy.

FLAKE: On something like tariffs, the Senate ought to bring legislation that says, "hey, you're misusing 232; Canada, Mexico, are not national security threats. The European Union exporting cars does not represent the national security threat," and we ought to push back. And if we don't, why are we there?

On Immigration: Replace family separation with monitored release

FLAKE: That's a House bill [that allows longer detention with family separation]. I think the Flores decision will stand [disallowing holding children in custory]. And so I think another solution has to come.

Q: Aren't you working with Senator Tillis on legislation that will allow families to be held beyond 20 days?

FLAKE: Oh, yes, I'm sorry; [there's also] House legislation. With the Tillis legislation, we envision some other form like monitored release, with ankle bracelets. Case management is still difficult, but it's far better than indefinite detention of families because some of these cases can go for a long time.

Q: And are you fairly certain that the courts will strike down the president's executive order [allowing family separation]?

FLAKE: Yes, yes.

Q: So what happens next?

FLAKE: I mean, Congress has to fix this

On Immigration: Get rid of visa lottery & chain migration

FLAKE: Well, in this compromise, we do get rid of the visa lottery program. But we allocate those visas to a couple of different programs, like TPS or temporary protected status. But there is broad agreement to get rid of the visa lottery. There's also agreement between us, the Republicans and the Democrats, that we do get rid of chain migration as it relates to the covered population. Those who benefit from this DACA bill will not be able to use chain migration to become citizens. We just don't do it for everybody, like the president wants to do. If we want a comprehensive bill, I'm all in.

On Principles & Values: Only authoritarians say the press is the enemy of the people

FLAKE: What I'm trying to say is, you can talk about crowd size and this is pretty innocuous if there's a falsehood. But when you reflexively refer to the press as "the enemy of the people" or "fake news," that has real damage to our standing in the world. Under Stalin, and today, you have authoritarians across the world using the term "fake news" to justify cracking down on their opposition or staunch legitimate debate.