Due to personal threats and crowd control issues amid an increasingly heated Supreme Court confirmation process, two Republican Senate Judiciary Committee members have been given additional security.
Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) and Sen. Chuck E. Grassley (R-IA) have been put under special protection with uniformed officers accompanying them, Roll Call reports.
“One man, somewhere in the country, called my office in Arizona and left a message saying that he was tired of my interrupting our President; and for the offense of allowing Dr. Ford to be heard — for this offense, my family and I would be ‘taken out,'” Flake said on the Senate floor Wednesday. “I mention this with reluctance, but only to say that we have lit a match, my colleagues. The question is, ‘Do we appreciate how close the powder keg is?'”
According to The Daily Caller, Grassley has also received threatening messages. “I hope you get raped so you can understand what that woman is going through,” one caller said. “I just wanted to call and tell you that you are a piece of shit and Senator Grassley is a f***ing piece of shit and he can’t die from a heart attack soon enough,” another said. “You’re a disgusting excuse for a human being, and I don’t know how you can live with yourself. … I hope you never have children because they’ll be just as worthless as you are,” said another caller.
Typically, only lawmakers in leadership positions, such as the speaker of the House, majority and minority leaders for both chambers, and the whips, receive full-time protective details from Capitol Police.
Senator Rand Paul (R-KY) — who was once assaulted by his neighbor in a politically-motivated attack and was threatened to be “chopped up” with an axe along with his family — called for civility.
“Yesterday there was an attempt to incite people by publishing the personal information of Senators – including home addresses- endangering them & their families,” Sen. Paul tweeted. “This should be investigated & the perpetrators punished. There is too much hatred and violence in politics these days.”
In 2016, a protective detail for House Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-LA) stopped a shooter after he opened fire on several senators, congressmen, and staffers at a practice for the Republican Congressional Baseball Team.