Several officials whom President-elect Donald Trump has picked to join his incoming administration were targeted by bomb threats and “swatting” attacks, his transition team said Wednesday.
“Last night and this morning, several of President Trump’s Cabinet nominees and Administration appointees were targeted in violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,” Trump transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.
The FBI said in a statement that it was aware of those incidents and is “working with our law enforcement partners.”
Swatting typically involves a false 911 report of an emergency at a location to elicit an aggressive police response and can turn deadly. NBC News reported that three senior law enforcement officials briefed on the swatting attack said the threats were not credible, and that no devices or physical threats were found.
Leavitt did not name the people who received those threats, but they did not involve Trump or Vice President-elect JD Vance, the officials told NBC News.
However, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., have said they were targeted. Stefanik, Trump’s pick for United Nations ambassador, said she received a bomb threat at her home in Saratoga County, New York, while driving there from Washington, D.C. on Wednesday morning. “New York State, County law enforcement, and U.S. Capitol Police responded immediately with the highest levels of professionalism,” her office said in a statement. Gaetz, whose nomination for U.S. attorney general imploded last week amid allegations he engaged in sexual misconduct and illegal drug use, also confirmed that he was the target of a bomb threat, NBC News reported. (Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing. A Justice Department probe concluded last year, without bringing charges against him. The House Ethics Committee separately investigated the matter but has not publicly released its findings.) A bomb squad was sent to the former congressman’s home in Florida, and the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office said no bomb-related devices were found. There have been a string of violent threats and swatting attacks against public officials in the past year amid a divided political climate. Many of those targeted have been public figures whom Trump has railed against, or those considered to be his political foes, including several Democrats — as well as the Biden White House — and special counsel Jack Smith.
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
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