Several of President-elect Donald Trump’s Cabinet were targeted by “bomb threats” and “swatting” attempts on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, a Trump spokeswoman said.
In a statement issued on social media, Trump transition team spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said that unnamed Cabinet nominees and administration officials were subjected to “violent, un-American threats to their lives and those who live with them.”
Leavitt said that law enforcement officials acted quickly to mitigate the problem, but didn’t provide further details.
“President Trump and the entire transition team are grateful for their swift action,” she said, referring to law enforcement officials.
It’s not clear if a police report was filed or if an investigation is underway. The Epoch Times contacted the U.S. Secret Service and National Security Council for comment on Wednesday.
Trump’s incoming U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) released a statement soon after, confirming she was targeted by a bomb threat.
“This morning, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, her husband, and their three year old son were driving home to Saratoga County from Washington for Thanksgiving when they were informed of a bomb threat to their residence,” her office said in a statement on X.
U.S. Capitol Police, local police, and New York State police responded to the incident, she added.
Leavitt said Trump and the incoming administration “are focused on doing the work of uniting our country by ensuring a safe and prosperous future.”
“With President Trump as our example, dangerous acts of intimidation and violence will not deter us,” she said.
Neither Trump nor Vice President-elect JD Vance have commented on the incidents.
Swatting refers to the action of making a prank call to emergency services such as law enforcement officials in a bid to bring about the dispatch of a large number of armed police officers to an address.
Last year, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) said on social media that she was the victim of several swatting attempts, including on Christmas Day last year.
“I was just swatted. This is like the 8th time. On Christmas with my family here. My local police are the GREATEST and shouldn’t have to deal with this,” Greene wrote in a post on X at the time.
During the campaign, Trump faced multiple attempts on his life.
In July, he barely survived an assassination attempt while he was speaking at a rally in Pennsylvania, with a bullet clipping his right ear. The gunman, 20-year-old Thomas Matthew Crooks, was shot and killed by a responding Secret Service sniper.
Two months later, in mid-September, the FBI and law enforcement officials arrested a man who had camped outside his Florida golf course for hours, waiting with an SKS-style rifle. Prosecutors say the suspect, Ryan Wesley Routh, wrote a letter detailing his intention to assassinate Trump because he pulled the United States out of the Iran nuclear deal in 2015.
Lawmakers confirmed that Trump was receiving presidential-level protection from the Secret Service at the time.
Trump has not publicly indicated whether he wants to revamp the Secret Service, which has been beset by controversy in the wake of the July assassination attempt that also saw its former director, Kimberly Cheatle, resign from office after an hours-long congressional hearing.
The president-elect has not revealed who he would choose as the agency’s director, although he has nominated South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem to head the Department of Homeland Security in a statement issued earlier this month. The agency oversees the Secret Service.
Trump is set to be inaugurated on Jan. 20, 2025. Congress is scheduled to certify the Nov. 5 election results on Jan. 6, 2025.
From The Epoch Times