'Probably good move' for Sen. Jeff Flake to retire: White House

Terming Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake's decision to retire as "probably a good move", White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, on Tuesday, argued that the former lacks enough support in his home state to win the 2018 election.

"Based on the lack of support he has from the people of Arizona, it's probably a good move," press secretary Sarah Sanders briefed the reporters, following the surprise announcement by Sen. Flake.

When Sanders was asked if President Trump had responded yet to Flake's announcement, she responded, "I haven't spoken with him directly since the announcement by Sen. Flake."

Arizona Republican Sen. Jeff Flake said that he will not run for re-election in 2018 and would retire when his term ends in January, citing the Republican Party's changing tide toward U.S. President Donald Trump.

In a dramatic speech on the Senate floor, without mentioning the President by name, Flake accused the Republican Party of having "given in or given up on the core principles in favour of a more viscerally satisfying anger and resentment ... but anger and resentment are not a governing philosophy."

"I rise today to say, 'enough.'" he said. "We must dedicate ourselves to making sure that the anomalous never becomes the normal."

On that note, Flake has had a tumultuous relationship with the Trump administration.

In August, he criticised the President's immigration policy, to which the latter tweeted that Flake was "WEAK on borders, crime and a non-factor in the Senate."

Flake's announcement came closely after President Trump's bitter war of words with another Republican senator, Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn, after the latter said the President should stay out of the tax-overhaul effort, expressing concern that the White House has been making it harder for Congress to craft legislation.

This prompted a flurry of tweets from President Trump.

Speaking on the same, Sanders said that the president is a "fighter" and "when he gets hit, he's going to hit back."

She added that both Corker and Flake would have struggled to win another term, adding, President Trump enjoys more support in Tennessee and Arizona than the GOP senators.