Jeff Flake, John McCain rebuke Trump on Muslim ban; Joe Arpaio sidesteps

• Donald Trump's call for a ban on Muslims coming to the U.S. is drawing heat from fellow Republicans
• Sens. John McCain and Jeff Flake of Arizona are among the GOP voices criticizing Trump
• Others, such as Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, have stopped short of condemning Trump

Arizona's Republican U.S. senators condemned GOP presidential front-runner Donald Trump's call for a ban on Muslims entering the United States, while other Republican officials in the state stayed silent as backlash over the remark continued to grow on Tuesday.

Sen. John McCain, who engaged in a fierce public feud with Trump earlier this year, called Trump's proposal for a "total and complete shutdown" of Muslim entries into the country foolish.

"It's just foolishness," McCain told CNN. "It's been a long series of statements like this that have been just foolish."

Sen. Jeff Flake, meanwhile, threw a punch at Trump on Twitter.

The Arizona Republic's efforts to reach McCain and Flake for elaboration were not immediately successful.

Trump's plan was announced in the wake of the deadly terrorist attack in San Bernardino and as the celebrity billionaire continues to lead the Republican presidential field in national polls. But Trump is also under increasing pressure from GOP rival Ted Cruz of Texas in Iowa, which hosts the nation's first caucuses on Feb. 1.

Trump has drawn criticism throughout his campaign for derogatory comments about Mexican immigrants, McCain's status as a former prisoner of war, women and a disabled New York Times reporter.

Timeline: North Korea and the Sony Pictures hack

On his campaign website, a Trump statement claimed there is research indicating that "there is great hatred towards Americans by large segments of the Muslim population."

"Until we are able to determine and understand this problem and the dangerous threat it poses, our country cannot be the victims of horrendous attacks by people that believe only in Jihad, and have no sense of reason or respect for human life," Trump's statement said.

Trump subsequently likened the move to President Franklin Roosevelt's wartime decision to detain Japanese-Americans in internment camps, an episode historically viewed as a national shame that, decades later, resulted in the federal government paying $1.6 billion in reparations.

Some Republicans said Trump's remarks show he has no sense of reason or respect. Some of his rivals for the GOP nomination blasted his proposal, along with U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., and Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus.

Republican state party chairs in Iowa, South Carolina and New Hampshire, the three crucial early states in the presidential nomination process, have rebuked Trump.

Robert Graham, chairman of the Arizona Republican Party, did not immediately react to Trump's remarks, nor did Arizona's five U.S. House Republicans.

In a Wednesday morning interview on Phoenix radio station KFYI-AM (550), Rep. Matt Salmon said that he didn't agree with Trump's comments.

Tyler Bowyer, chairman of the Republican Party of Maricopa County, which helped stage a Trump campaign event in downtown Phoenix in July, said Trump's remarks "are not reflective of the founding principles of our great nation."

"America has long been a beacon for religious freedom, and conservatives will not abandon our principles for the appearance of temporary security," Bowyer said in a statement to The Republic. "Instead, Republicans will continue to identify ways to protect the American people from radical Islamic terrorists and to hold the Obama administration accountable for its complete failure to address the threat of ISIS."

Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, a controversial figure whose immigration-enforcement tactics were found to be discriminatory against Latinos, did not condemn the remarks.

Arpaio said some of the criticism from elected officials might be because Trump is the party's front-runner.

(story continues below video)

“He happens to be the leading candidate,” said Arpaio, who in July warmed up the crowd before Trump took the stage at the Phoenix Convention Center rally. “I’m sure that these people zeroing in on Trump over this incident are not his supporters, so when you talk about politics nationally, they’re going to do whatever they can to find fault with the leader right now in the presidential candidacy.”

As far as Trump’s Muslim-ban comments, Arpaio said, “I don’t know. I would like to see more from him as to what his nuts and bolts part of this would be. He was talking about it — he talks a lot when he’s in front of the cameras — but I would like to learn more what the intricacies are that made him make that comment.”

State Treasurer Jeff DeWit, who spent time with Trump on his plane during his July stop in Phoenix, was not available for comment, a spokesman said, because he is out of town at a work function.

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey, who called for a ban on all refugees in Arizona in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks, also has not commented on Trump's remarks.