Ex-senator described threatening messages and behavior made against him and his family in an interview with the Guardian

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Jeff Flake, the former Republican senator for Arizona and a vocal critic of the Trump administration, has revealed he received a number of threats from supporters of the president before he left office this year.

In an interview with the Guardian, Flake described several examples of threatening messages and behaviour made against him and his family that he said were currently being investigated by law enforcement agencies in Arizona and Washington DC.

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“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 been [made to make], what they had to endure …”

Donald Trump’s inflammatory rhetoric, both as a candidate for office and as president, has often targeted Flake. The former senator had called for Trump to abandon his bid for the White House in 2016 after the release of a tape showing the reality star bragging about groping women’s genitals.

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Last week, a man in Chicago pleaded guilty to a federal retaliation charge after leaving a threatening voicemail for an unidentified US senator after the hearings for Trump’s supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh. Flake confirmed to the Guardian the message had been left for him after he delayed Kavanaugh’s hearing by pressing for a short FBI investigation into allegations the judge had sexually assaulted a number of women as a teenager.

The defendant, 58-year-old James Dean Blevins Jr, said on the voicemail: “I am tired of him interrupting our president, and I am coming down there to take him and his family out,” according to prosecutors.

But, said Flake: “That’s only one of several threats.”

Flake revealed that an unidentified man carrying a rifle scope had recently arrived at three locations in Arizona associated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, looking for the former senator, a devout Mormon.

According to Flake: “It was a man living out of his car. He told someone he had just attended a Trump rally.” He added: “He showed up at another event two weeks ago.”

The Mesa police department in Arizona confirmed they had been assisting Flake and his family during an investigation that was being handled by federal authorities. The US Capitol police declined to answer questions.

Flake also said his family had received “several” other threats that “haven’t been tracked down yet”.

“Threats where they list my kids and their addresses, links to beheading videos,” Flake said.

Flake announced in 2017 he would not recontest his seat in the US Senate, partially citing the inflammatory rhetoric and discriminatory policy of the Trump administration.

Flake is just one of a number of high-profile critics of Trump to receive threats or other forms of violence from his supporters.

In March, Cesar Sayoc Jr, a fanatical supporter of Trump, pleaded guilty to 65 felony counts after mailing pipe bombs to a dozen Trump critics, including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.