Flake said he is “troubled” by some of Moore’s comments, which he said represent the opposite of the political civility Flake called for in a book he authored this year. Republicans should have been much more “forceful” in denouncing the “ugly conspiracy theory” about the president’s birthplace in the past, and should be forceful in voicing their criticisms of Moore’s theories today, he said.

“I think the same is true when somebody says that members of our body, the Congress, the House of Representatives, shouldn’t be there, and to try and apply a religious test, that’s not right, and Republicans out to stand up and say, that’s not right,” Flake said, to applause from the audience.