Jeff Flake, a Republican senator from Arizona, launched a scorching attack on President Donald Trump, comparing him to Stalin for his relentless criticisms of the “fake news media”.
Mr Flake, one of the most vocal Republican critics of Mr Trump, castigated the president over his comments about the media, which he last year called the “enemy of the people”.
“It is a testament to the condition of our democracy that our own president uses words infamously spoken by Josef Stalin to describe his enemies,” Mr Flake, who is not seeking re-election, said in a searing speech. “When a figure in power reflexively calls any press that doesn’t suit him ‘fake news’ it is that person who should be the figure of suspicion, not the press.”