House

GOP rep shares threatening voicemail after infrastructure vote

by Cameron Jenkins 11/09/21 07:32 AM ET

Rep. Fred Upton (R-Mich.) revealed on Monday that he received a threatening voicemail just days after voting for the bipartisan infrastructure bill.

During an appearance on CNN’s “AC360,” Upton told Anderson Cooper that a person called him and left a message saying “I hope you die,” according to CNN.

“I hope everybody in your f—ing family dies,” the caller reportedly added, saying the Republican lawmaker was a “f—ing piece of shit traitor.”

Upton voted alongside 12 other members of his party and House Democrats last Friday in favor of the $1.2 trillion infrastructure package. Under the legislation, Americans will see investments into the country’s infrastructure, including waterways, roads, bridges, airports, railroad and mass transit.

After the vote, Upon said in a tweet that he was disappointed that the bill had become “a political football.”

“Our country can’t afford this partisan dysfunction any longer,” he wrote.

On Monday, Upton reiterated that point to Cooper, saying that the voicemail he received further indicated how “we have seen civility really downslide here,” according to CNN.

“These are very disturbing, adult language,” he added. “To say the least, that truly is frightening.”

The Michigan lawmaker’s office told the news network that the threatening voicemail was not an isolated incident.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) in a tweet after the vote called the Republicans who supported the legislation “traitors.”

“Those 13 Republican traitors who voted to pass Biden’s Socialist Infrastructure bill agree with Globalist Joe that America must depend on China to drive EV’s,” she wrote.

“The unlucky 13 are China-First and America-Last,” she added. “13 American job & energy killers.”

Upton was also among Republicans who voted in favor of impeaching former President Trump after the Jan. 6 insurrection.

At the time, he criticized GOP lawmakers who sought to downplay the events that occurred that day.

“It’s absolutely bogus. You know, I was there. I watched a number of the folks walk down to the White House and then back. I have a balcony on my office. So I saw them go down. I heard the noise — the flash-bangs, I smelled some of the gas as it moved my way,” he said at the time, according to CNN.

— Updated at 7:53 a.m.