Andy Puzder described on Monday the pressure his family received during the confirmation process before he withdrew his nomination as President Trump's labor secretary, hinting that his family received death threats while expressing "intense disappointment" at his failed nomination.

Puzder told radio host Hugh Hewitt in his first interview since withdrawing his nomination on Feb. 15 that the pressure on his family was "pretty tremendous," most of which came from Democratic activists. His family was harassed at their Tennessee home, which prompted a visit from an FBI terrorist team. Puzder, who is the CEO of CKE Restaurants, withdrew his nomination after at least three Republican senators were set to vote against him.

"The pressure on my family was really pretty tremendous," Puzder said. "There were a lot of things done outside of the process, for example, the payroll account at our company was hacked. Fight for $15 sent eight to 10 demonstrators to our front door when I was sitting here one Saturday afternoon.

"There was an envelope left at our house addressed to my wife that had white powder in it, a pink piece of paper with 'Trump' written on it, and here, obviously, the white powder was in a plastic bag, but you open the envelope and a little powder came out," Puzder explained. "There was also, I'm told — I didn't see it — but I'm told there was a paper doll with a noose around its neck and ... it was addressed to my wife, not addressed to me, which really shows the cowardice of these people. We had an FBI terrorist team come to the house. We had a couple of fire engines with hazmat teams in the neighborhood to pick up this envelope and take it in to have it analyzed."

The former labor secretary nominee, who became the first of Trump's nominees to be turned back, told Hewitt that the White House continued to back him until he decided to withdraw and was "strongly encouraged" to stick it out and go through with his hearing, which was pushed back multiple times.

"I'm not bitter about it. I feel, I would say, intense disappointment every time I turn on the TV and the president and his team are talking about reducing regulations, they're going to reduce the size of government, they're going to reduce taxes, they're going to replace Obamacare — I get a sinking feeling in my stomach just because I'm not involved and I would have loved to be involved in this," Puzder said. "I would say disappointment is the key here."