According to a spokesperson for the Trump transition team, a number of President-elect Donald Trump’s intended Cabinet candidates and administration personnel were the targets of “swatting” attacks and bomb threats on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
“Violent, un-American threats against their lives and those who live with them” were directed at the nominees and appointees. In a statement, transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt stated, “These attacks ranged from swatting to bomb threats.”
Swatting is when someone calls the police pretending that something life-threatening is happening. It can have fatal consequences and is intended to attract SWAT teams to a site.
These were not credible threats, according to three senior law enforcement officials who briefed NBC News on the swatting episode involving several Trump allies. According to the officials, some of the threats may have originated on social media, and no gadgets or tangible threats were discovered. Neither Vice President-elect JD Vance nor Trump, who are protected by the U.S. Secret Service, were involved in the threats.
In a statement, the FBI noted that it is working with our law enforcement partners to address the multiple bomb threats and swatting activities that have been directed against incoming administration nominees and appointees. As always, we urge the public to report any suspicious activity to law enforcement right away because we take all possible threats seriously.
Although the Trump statement did not specify who or how many newly appointed officials were the targets of the hoax, it did indicate that “law enforcement and other authorities acted quickly to ensure the safety of those who were targeted.”
“President Trump and the entire Transition team are grateful for their swift action,” read the statement.
Trump’s nomination for ambassador to the UN, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., was named as one of the targets, according to her office.
Stefanik, her husband, and their three-year-old son were on their way home from Washington “when they were informed of a bomb threat to their residence,” according to a statement from the office. The U.S. Capitol Police, New York State, and local police enforcement all acted with the utmost professionalism right away.
Trump’s nominee to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, Lee Zeldin, a former congressman from New York, claimed he was also singled out.
“Today, a pro-Palestinian remark was included in a pipe bomb threat that was directed at my family and me at our house. I’m safe; my family and I weren’t at home at the time. As this issue progresses, we are collaborating with law enforcement to find out more,” he stated in a statement.
He was also targeted, according to former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., who last week retracted his quest to become Trump’s attorney general.
The warning prompted a bomb squad to report to his Florida home. The sheriff first brought a bomb-sniffing dog to his house, but it was inconclusive, so the bomb squad was called in.
There were no devices found, according to the Okaloosa County Sheriff’s Office. Additionally, a search of the nearby area yielded no results.
According to Gaetz, a family member was home at the time, but he was not. Punchbowl News was the first to report on the specifics of the Gaetz threat.
According to Leavitt’s comments, the threats would not deter them. “Dangerous acts of violence and intimidation will not deter us, as we have President Trump as our model,” she stated.
The judge who presided over Trump’s civil fraud trial in New York, the prosecutor who brought his federal election interference case, special counsel Jack Smith, the district attorney’s office in Georgia and New York that brought criminal cases against Trump, and others who have been perceived as Trump’s enemies have all previously employed the same strategies.
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