Sen. Jeff Flake says he got death threats after asking Senate to hold hearing for Kavanaugh accuser

Speaking on the floor of the Senate, Sen. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz) called out people on both sides of the political spectrum who had levied threats against or slandered both Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh and his accuser, Christine Blasey Ford.

He also revealed that he and his family had received death threats after he urged the Senate to hear Ford's testimony.

According to a CNN report from Sept. 20, Kavanaugh and Ford have received “a slew of death threats” since they entered the public arena.

What did he say?

Addressing his colleagues in the Senate, Flake said:

These people are not props for us to make our political point. Nor are they to be demolished like Anita Hill, as was said on conservative media the other night. Nor is one of them a proven sex criminal, as has been circulating on the left side of the internet. These are human beings with families and children, people who love them, and people whom they love and live for. And each is suffering through a very ugly process that we have created.

I will not review the unseemly process that brought us to this point, because that is for another time. And, in any case, it didn't start with this particular nomination. But here we are.

There was an earlier case, 27 years ago, from which you might have thought we would have learned something. But the past couple of weeks makes it clear that we haven't learned much at all.

Flake also addressed the threats against himself and his family. He revealed that a man "somewhere in the country" had called Flake's Arizona office and criticized him for "interrupting my president." Flake continued:

And for that offense of allowing Dr. Ford to be heard for this offense, me and my family would be taken out. I mention this with reluctance, but only to say we have lit a match, my colleagues. The question is do we appreciate how close the powder keg is?

In the same speech, Flake also called President Donald Trump “uninformed and uncaring" for saying that Ford's story lacked credibility because she did not immediately report it when she was 15. Trump had said that if the incident “was as bad as she says, charges would have been immediately filed with local law enforcement authorities.”