Trump transition says Cabinet picks, appointees were targeted by bomb threats, swatting attacks

NEW YORK (AP) — A number of President-elect Donald Trump ‘s most prominent Cabinet picks and appointees have been targeted by bomb threats and “swatting attacks,” Trump’s transition team said Wednesday. The FBI said it was investigating.

“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.

She said the attacks ranged from bomb threats to swatting, in which attackers initiate an emergency law enforcement response against a target victim under false pretenses. The tactic has become a popular one in recent years.

Leavitt said law enforcement and other authorities acted quickly to ensure the safety of those who were targeted and Trump and his transition team are grateful.

Among those targeted were New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, Trump’s pick to serve as the next ambassador to the United Nations; Matt Gaetz, Trump’s initial pick to serve as attorney general; and former New York congressman Lee Zeldin, who has been tapped to lead the Environmental Protection Agency.

Law enforcement is also looking into whether Susie Wiles, Trump’s incoming chief of staff, and Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general whom Trump has chosen as Gaetz’s replacement, and other incoming administration officials were also victims.

Authorities are working to determine how each of the victims was targeted, according to a law enforcement official who spoke on condition of anonymity as the investigation continues. Wiles and Bondi did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The FBI said in a statement that it was “aware of numerous bomb threats and swatting incidents targeting incoming administration nominees and appointees” and was investigating with its law enforcement partners.

The FBI added: “We take all potential threats seriously, and as always, encourage members of the public to immediately report anything they consider suspicious to law enforcement.”

White House spokesperson Saloni Sharma said President Joe Biden had been briefed and the White House is in touch with federal law enforcement and Trump’s transition team.

Biden “continues to monitor the situation closely,” Sharma said, adding the president and his administration “condemn threats of political violence.”

Stefanik’s office said that, on Wednesday morning, she, her husband, and their 3-year-old son were driving home from Washington for Thanksgiving when they were informed of a bomb threat to their residence in Saratoga County.

Her office said “New York State, County law enforcement, and U.S. Capitol Police responded immediately with the highest levels of professionalism.”

The New York State Police said a team was dispatched to sweep Stefanik’s home on Wednesday morning in response to the bomb threat but did not locate any explosive devices. The agency directed further questions to the FBI.

Zeldin said in a social media post that he and his family had been threatened.

“A pipe bomb threat targeting me and my family at our home today was sent in with a pro-Palestinian themed message,” he wrote on X. “My family and I were not home at the time and are safe. We are working with law enforcement to learn more as this situation develops.”

Police in Suffolk County, Long Island, said emergency officers responded to a bomb threat Wednesday morning at an address listed in public records as Zeldin’s home and were checking the property.

In Florida, the Okaloosa County sheriff’s office said on Facebook that it “received notification of a bomb threat referencing former Congressman Matt Gaetz’s supposed mailbox at a home in the Niceville area” around 9 a.m. Wednesday.

While a family member resides at the address, the office said, Gaetz “is NOT a resident.” No threatening devices were found.

Gaetz was Trump’s initial pick to serve as attorney general, but he withdrew from consideration after allegations that he paid women for sex and slept with underage women. Gaetz has vehemently denied any wrongdoing and said last year that a Justice Department investigation into sex trafficking allegations involving underage girls had ended with no federal charges against him.

The threats follow a political campaign marked by disturbing and unprecedented violence. In July, a gunman opened fire at a Trump rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, grazing the then-candidate in the ear with a bullet and killing one of his supporters. The Secret Service later thwarted a subsequent assassination attempt at Trump’s West Palm Beach, Florida, golf course when an agent spotted the barrel of a gun poking through a perimeter fence while Trump was golfing.

Public figures across the political spectrum have been targeted in recent years by hoax bomb threats and false reports of shootings at their homes.

About a year ago the FBI responded to an uptick in such incidents at the homes of public officials, state capitols and courthouses across the country around the holidays. Many were locked down and evacuated in early January after receiving bomb threats. No explosives were found and no one was hurt.

Some of those targeted last year were Georgia Lt. Gov. Burt Jones, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.

In Wu’s case, a male caller told police he had shot his own wife and tied another man up. When police and EMT responders arrived at the address given by the caller, they quickly realized it was the Boston mayor’s home. Wu, a Democrat, has also been targeted by many swatting calls since she took office in 2021.

The judges overseeing the civil fraud case against Trump in New York and the criminal election interference case against him in Washington were both targeted earlier this year. Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith, who recently abandoned the two criminal cases he brought against Trump, was also the subject of a fake emergency call on Christmas Day last year.

Earlier this year, schools, government buildings and the homes of city officials in Springfield, Ohio, received a string of hoax bomb threats after Trump falsely accused members of Springfield’s Haitian community of abducting and eating cats and dogs.

And in 2022, a slew of historically Black colleges and universities nationwide were targeted with dozens of bomb threats, with the vast majority arriving during the celebration of Black History Month.

The U.S. Capitol Police said in a statement Wednesday that anytime a member of Congress is the victim of a swatting’ incident, “we work closely with our local and federal law enforcement partners.” The force declined to provide further details, in part to “minimize the risk of copy-cats.”

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson called the threats “dangerous and unhinged.”

“This year, there was not just one but TWO assassination attempts on President Trump,” he wrote on X. “Now some of his Cabinet nominees and their families are facing bomb threats.” He added: “It is not who we are in America.”