Former Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., said before leaving office he received several threats from supporters of President Trump.
Flake, a vocal Trump critic, told The Guardian that law enforcement in Arizona and Washington, D.C., are investigating threatening messages and behavior against him and his family.
“I would have liked to have done one more term in the Senate, that’s probably all,” Flake said. “But its been at a heavy cost to my family. The sacrifices they’ve [made], what they had to endure …”
Flake announced in 2017 he would not be seeking reelection in the 2018 elections for his Senate seat.
James Dean Blevins Jr., a 58-year-old Chicago resident, pleaded guilty to a federal retaliation charge after leaving a threatening voicemail for a U.S. senator, which Flake confirmed was him.
Flake said the message was left after he called for an FBI investigation into sexual assault allegations against now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, ultimately delaying the confirmation hearings.
Flake ended up voting to confirm Kavanaugh.
“That’s only one of several threats,” Flake said, adding that there are others that “haven’t been tracked down yet.”
“Threats where they list my kids and their addresses, links to beheading videos,” Flake said.
Mesa police in Arizona are assisting Flake’s family during the investigation, which is being handled by federal authorities.
Flake, who is Mormon, said that more recently an unidentified man carrying a rifle scope showed up at three Church of Jesus Christ Latter-day Saints locations in Arizona in search of the former senator.
“It was a man living out of his car. He told someone he had just attended a Trump rally,” Flake said. “He showed up at another event two weeks ago.”
