The harassment of senators on both sides of the Brett Kavanaugh confirmation battle has extended to Doug Jones' office, who said Thursday that his female staffers received threats from some of Kavanaugh's backers.

"The hate and ugliness I have witnessed is unprecedented, and I hope, God I hope, does not reflect who we really are as Americans, and it has been on both sides," Jones said in a conference call with reporters. "I've even had callers telling the young women who've answered my phones that they hope they are sexually assaulted."

Jones indicated last week that he would vote against Kavanaugh's confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court, calling the process "flawed from the very beginning." Alabama's junior senator said he was concerned that Republicans were rushing the confirmation, pointing out that the GOP-led Senate Judiciary Committee refused to allow the National Archives to transfer all of Kavanaugh's records, including the judge's tenure as staff secretary to President George W. Bush. The senator also said that the committee should have subpoenaed Kavanaugh friend Mark Judge, whom Dr. Christine Blasey Ford claimed witnessed Kavanaugh sexually assaulting her when they were in high school.

"I believe it was flawed from the very beginning, it will be incomplete at the end because of the needless rush for confirmation," Jones said. "There's simply no need to rush a Supreme Court nomination for a lifetime appointment."

The heated debate over Kavanaugh's confirmation led to harassment of senators from both parties. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, was forced out of a Washington restaurant by anti-Kavanaugh activists, and Capitol Police had to escort senators from protesters.

At a second Judiciary Committee hearing last week, Ford and Kavanaugh testified about the sexual assault allegations. Jones said he believed Kavanaugh's conduct at the meeting - the judge said he believed the attacks on his character was "revenge on behalf of the Clintons" for his role in President Bill Clinton's impeachment - was "unbecoming of a judge" much less a potential Supreme Court justice.

"The manner in which he went attacking and blaming others I thought was incredibly unfortunate but also demonstrated a partisanship, a lack of independence," the senator said.

While Jones said he expected Kavanaugh to defend himself against the allegations, he also expected the judge to agree to a full vetting of the claims if there was no misconduct.

The FBI, which was called on to investigate the claims, submitted its report today to the Senate. Jones is scheduled to view the findings this afternoon, but he was concerned that the investigation's limited scope would not substantiate or disprove Ford's claims.

"There will always be a cloud" over the nomination, Jones said. "They will never get to the bottom of this at all, and that is not just unfortunate for Judge Kavanaugh, it's unfortunate for Dr. Ford and its unfortunate for the Supreme Court."