Representative Fred Upton (R-MI) said Monday on CNN’s “Anderson Cooper 360” that he was concerned for his staffs’ safety after receiving a profane voicemail from a man calling him a traitor because he voted for the infrastructure bill.
Cooper said, “You were one of 13 House Republicans who voted for the bipartisan infrastructure bill. In the wake of that vote, you have been receiving, I understand, some disturbing phone calls. I want to play one that your office provided to us, and I just want to play this for our viewers to give them a sense of what you are getting.”
In the heavily bleeped voicemail, a man said, “[ bleep ] traitor. That’s what you are. You’re a piece of [ bleep ] traitor. I hope you die. I hope everybody in your [ bleep ] family dies. You [ bleep ] piece of [ bleep ] trash, mother [bleep ]. Voted for dumb [ bleep ] Biden? You’re stupider than he is. He can’t even complete a [ bleep ] sentence, you dumb mother [ bleep ] traitor, piece of [ bleep ] mother [ bleep ], piece of trash. I hope you die. I hope your [ bleep ] family dies. I hope everybody in your [ bleep ] staff dies, you [ bleep ] piece of [ bleep ] [ bleep ]. Traitor!”
Upton said, “It’s a real step back. Thank goodness it wasn’t a constituent. But I have a colleague, as you know, that put out the phone numbers of the 13 of us that voted that way. I would be glad to defend that vote. And we have been working really since last spring on a bipartisan bill. ”
He added, “You know, we’ve seen civility really downslide here. I am concerned about my staff. They are taking these calls. They are threats to them.”
Upton concluded, “These are very disturbing adult language, to say the least, that truly is frightening and a real, real bad mark in terms of the civility across the country as we’ve seen these issues like this jump.”
Follow Pam Key on Twitter @pamkeyNEN
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