The FBI said on Wednesday that several members of Donald Trump’s incoming US administration have received threats, including a bomb alert, with one named person reporting a pipe-bomb threat with a pro-Palestinian message.
The president-elect’s choices for UN ambassador and head of the Environmental Protection Agency, as well as his former choice to become US Attorney General, said he was among those who received threats.
“The FBI is aware of multiple bomb threats and attack incidents targeting nominees and appointees of the incoming administration, and we are working with our law enforcement partners,” the agency said in a statement.
Swatting refers to a practice in which the police are urgently called to someone’s home under false pretenses. Such prank calls are common in the United States and several senior political figures have been targeted in recent years.
Carolyn Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Trump’s transition team, said that several appointees and nominees were “targeted in violent, un-American threats against their lives and the lives of those who work with them.”
The White House said outgoing President Joe Biden had been “briefed” about the threats.
“The White House is in contact with federal law enforcement and the President-elect’s team and is closely monitoring the situation,” a spokesperson said in a statement.
“The President and the Administration unequivocally condemn threats of political violence.”
Biden has vowed a smooth and peaceful presidential transition – a contrast from when Trump incited a mob that attacked the US Capitol with false claims of election fraud in January 2021.
‘Pro-Palestinian’
Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, a Trump loyalist who will be ambassador to the United Nations, said her residence in New York was targeted in a bomb threat.
She said in a statement that she, her husband and young son were flying home from Washington for the Thanksgiving holiday when they learned of the threat.
Lee Zeldin, Trump’s pick to lead the Environmental Protection Agency, said his home was targeted by a pipe bomb threat sent with a “pro-Palestinian-themed message.”
The former New York congressman said he and his family were not home at the time.
Matt Gaetz, who dropped out as Trump’s pick to be attorney general after facing backlash over sexual misconduct allegations, reposted Zeldin’s message on X and said: “Same.”
Scott Turner, Trump’s nominee for housing secretary and retired NFL player Scott Turner, and Trump’s choice for labor secretary, meanwhile, said they too have received bomb threats at their homes.
Fox News Digital, citing unnamed sources, said Trump’s nominee to head the CIA, John Ratcliffe, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth were also targeted.
Ahead of his return to the White House in January, Trump has already rapidly assembled a Cabinet of loyalists, including many who have been criticized for their severe lack of experience.
The Republican, who appears set to avoid a criminal trial related to efforts to overturn his defeat in the 2020 election, was wounded in the ear in an assassination attempt during a campaign rally in July. The shooter was killed in retaliatory firing.
In September, authorities arrested another man accused of planning to shoot Trump while he was playing golf at his course in West Palm Beach, Florida.
“With President Trump as our example, threats and dangerous acts of violence will not stop us,” Levitt said, referencing past incidents.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
