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Arizona Sen. Jeff Flake shocked MSNBC's Chuck Todd Thursday evening with his candid response that Republican lawmakers won't publicly admit they oppose Donald Trump as the GOP presidential nominee because they fear the front-runner would launch a third-party run.

"Those who don't want a Republican in the White House want Republicans to say this because the most likely scenario if there's not a Republican in the White House will be because Donald Trump runs as a third-party candidate and if Republicans say now we will not support the ultimate nominee, that gives Donald Trump license to run as a third-party candidate," Flake said on "Meet the Press Daily."

Flake initially dodged Todd's question of whether he would support Trump as the party's nominee, responding, "Donald Trump will not be the nominee."

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