Sen. Jeff Flake said Wednesday his family have faced threats over his insistence that the Senate hear testimony from Christine Blasey Ford, holding it up as an example of the “toxic political culture” that has engulfed the nation and the nomination battle over Brett Kavanaugh.
The Arizona Republican said when Mrs. Ford came forward with sexual assault allegations against Mr. Kavanuagh, he felt strongly that her voice needed to be heard and criticized President Trump’s claim that Mrs. Blasey, at the age of 15, would have filed charges if she was telling the truth.
“In the interest of due diligence and fairness it seemed the right thing to do,” Mr. Flake said on the floor of the Senate. “Not everyone felt this way.
“One man somewhere in the country called my office in Arizona and left a message saying that he was tired of me interrupting my president, and for that offense of allowing Dr. Ford to heard, for this offense, me and my family would taken out,” he said.
Mr. Flake, who is not running for re-election, said he shared the story in order to shine a light on how elected leaders have fanned the flames of division in the country and “tested the limits of how low we can go.”
“We have lit a match, my colleagues,” he said. “The question is do we appreciate how close the powder keg is?”
Mr. Flake is a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee that is slated Thursday to listen to the testimony of Mr. Kavanaugh and Mrs. Ford.
Mr. Flake said he will listen to the testimony before deciding how he will vote.
“What I do know is that I don’t believe that Dr. Ford is part of some vast conspiracy from start to finish to smear Judge Kavanaugh, as has been alleged by some on the right,” he said. “And I do not believe that Judge Kavanaugh is some kind of serial sexual predator, as some have alleged on the left.”
• Seth McLaughlin can be reached at smclaughlin@washingtontimes.com.
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