Susan Collins Shares Brett Kavanaugh’s Heartwarming Text — and the Vile Threats She Faced

Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) revealed that Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh sent her a text message after his official Senate confirmation vote telling her that “he would work hard to make me proud and the American people proud.”

President Donald Trump nominated Kavanaugh in July to replace former Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy, who retired.

Although many Democratic senators and liberals activists immediately opposed the Kavanaugh choice and carried out a wide variety of theatrics, his confirmation process descended into chaos following last-minute sexual assault allegations leveled against him — all of which he vehemently denied.

Christine Blasey Ford was the first woman to come forward publicly, on September 16, alleging Kavanaugh sexually assaulted her during a high school gathering 36 years earlier, in Maryland, when they were both teenagers.

Two other women, Deborah Ramirez and Julie Swetnick, also came forward with outrageous sexual assault allegations against Kavanaugh. The FBI investigated the claims but found no corroboration for any of them.

Kavanaugh denied the allegations unequivocally and Trump stood by his nominee. Only one GOP senator — Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski — chose not to vote for Kavanaugh.

The rest of the Republican senators ultimately unified around him.

The Senate confirmed Kavanaugh 50-48 on October 6.

Collins gave an interview that aired Thursday night on Fox News’ “The Story with Martha MacCallum” in which she recounted the thought process that led her ultimately to support Kavanaugh’s nomination. She delivered a memorable speech on the Senate floor announcing her vote.

MacCallum noted that the speech was “heralded as one of the best ever in the history of the deliberative body.”

“Well, I felt so strongly that we were really at a critical point for our country. And if we — the Senate confirmation process is not a trial, but there are certain standards that we have to abide by,” Collins told MacCallum.

“I think it’s a disservice to the United States Senate. We’re better than that and this not what the constitutional process of advice and consent is supposed to be about,” Collins said. “I can only hope that this represents rock bottom in what has been a steady decline in the dignity and decorum of the nomination process for Supreme Court nominees over the past three decades.”

The senator rebuked her Democratic colleagues and liberal activists for throwing “overboard the presumption of innocence despite the complete lack of corroborating evidence” and rejecting “the rule of law and due process.”

Collins said she “really feared for what our country would become and whether anyone would be willing to put their name forth for public service” after witnessing the Kavanaugh confirmation spectacle.

When MacCallum asked Collins if she had spoken with Kavanaugh since “you gave your famous speech,” Collins replied, “I have not. I’ve gotten one text message from him right after it, in which he said that he would work hard to make me proud and the American people proud.”

Related: Brett Kavanaugh’s Return to Coaching Did Not Qualify as a ‘Public Safety’ Story

Collins also revealed new details about the onslaught of horrific threats she received during the weeks she spent deliberating over whether or not to vote for Kavanaugh following the allegations.

“There was an envelope that arrived a few days after the ricin envelope and letter that had white powder in it. And fortunately the postal service inspector did a great job at intercepting it,” Collins said. “And it was a very difficult time. My husband and our dog and parts of our house had to be quarantined.”

Collins said that hazmat teams arrived. One night, after she worked late and drove herself home, she saw “a man who had been waiting there for me in the pouring rain and dark.”

“I look around the streets. There’s nobody else out,” Collins revealed. “And he follows me to my house, starts screaming at me, shines a flashlight in my eyes. Turns on a cam recorder and it was — it was frightening.”

“But what was even worse was what was done to my staff. They had to be subjected to all sorts of abuse,” Collins said. “A 25-year-old case worker on my staff who deals with Social Cecurity problems and the VA and immigration answered a call in which the man told her that if I voted yes for Justice Kavanaugh that he hoped that she would be raped and impregnated.”

Collins said she “lost” that staff member because “she just could not take the tremendous abuse that was heaped upon [her].”

“It was unlike anything I have seen in all the years that I’ve been privileged to serve in the Senate,” Collins said.

Check out more in the video below: