“There would be at least 35.”

— Former Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ), quoted by Fox News, on the number of Republican senators who would vote to convict Trump if it was done anonymously.

Former Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) told the Guardian he received a number of threats from supporters of the president before he left office this year.

“Flake described several examples of threatening messages and behaviour made against him and his family that he said were currently being investigated by law enforcement agencies in Arizona and Washington DC.”

Said Flake: “I would have liked to have done one more term in the Senate, that’s probably all. But its been at a heavy cost to my family. The sacrifices they’ve been made to make, what they had to endure.”

Sen. Jeff Flake’s (R-AZ) vow to block judicial nominees is significantly disrupting the Senate Judiciary Committee’s plans to advance more of President Trump’s picks for the lower courts, CNN reports.

“The committee’s chairman, Chuck Grassley, an Iowa Republican, scrapped a Thursday meeting, according to an announcement from the committee. A Grassley aide cited the reason as Flake not backing off his threat to vote against all pending nominees until he gets a floor vote on a bill to protect special counsels like Robert Mueller from political interference. This is the second meeting in consecutive weeks the committee has scrapped, delaying 22 nominees from floor consideration by the end of the year.”

Mitch McConnell called outgoing Sen. Jeff Flake’s (R-AZ) attempts to block judicial nominations in order to force a vote on a bill to protect Mueller a “futile gesture” and said the measure to protect the special counsel is “blatantly unconstitutional,” the Newsweek reports.

Said McConnell: “I’m perplexed, frankly, by his pushing for the Mueller protection bill.”

McConnell added that the House “would never pass it” and that the president “would never sign it.”

Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-TX) said there’s a chance the Senate will actually vote on legislation designed to protect special counsel Robert Mueller, Roll Call reports.

Cornyn suggested that may be the price paid in order to get an agreement with retiring Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) to let more of President Trump’s judicial nominations through the Judiciary Committee.

Washington Post: “For most members of Congress, our social media ideological ranking looks very similar to ideological measures produced from voting behavior. But that’s not true for Flake: His social media ideological rating is surprisingly close to that of his moderate Republican colleagues.”

“In other words, Flake votes like a staunch conservative, but he tweets like a moderate.”

Sen. Jeff Flake (R-AZ) vowed to stay involved in politics after he leaves the Senate in January, but that he doesn’t yet know “at what level or in what way,” The Hill reports.

Said Flake: “I’m not leaving the Senate because I’m not tied to this institution or ‘pox on all your houses.’ It’s a wonderful institution with wonderful people.”

He added: “I simply couldn’t run the kind of campaign that I felt I needed to run in this environment and succeed. That’s the bottom line. But I will stay involved, certainly. I don’t know at what level or in what way but this is important.”