FBI confirms Trump cabinet pick targeted for bomb threat, ‘swatting’ | Donald Trump News

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the United States has issued a statement confirming that many people who have been nominated for the position of President Donald Trump have been threatened these days since they were elected.

“The FBI is aware of multiple incidents of bomb threats and incidents targeting former and elected officials, and we are working with our law enforcement partners,” the agency said Wednesday.

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

The brief statement echoed reports from Trump’s own transition team.

Earlier, Trump spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt revealed that cabinet appointees Lee Zeldin and Elise Stefanik were among those targeted.

“Last night and this morning, President Trump’s Cabinet appointees and administration nominees were targeted by violent, un-American threats to their lives and those with whom they live,” he wrote in a statement.

Zeldin, a former congressman from New York, posted about his experience on social media, making sure that he and his family were safe.

“The bomb threat against me and my family at home today was sent via a message with a pro-Palestinian header,” said Zeldin, Trump’s pick to head the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA).

Stefanik, the US representative from New York and Trump’s nominee for ambassador to the United Nations, issued a statement in his office explaining that he had also been attacked by a bomb scare.

“This morning, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, her husband, and their three-year-old son were driving to Saratoga County from Washington to attend a Thanksgiving event when they were told of a bomb threat in their neighborhood,” the statement said.

“New York State Police, New York County, and US Capitol Police responded quickly with the highest levels of professionalism.”

Citing an unidentified law enforcement official, the Associated Press news agency also reported that chief of staff Susie Wiles, former Attorney General Matt Gaetz, and her successor Pam Bondi are also missing.

The FBI cited “swatting” incidents, where law enforcement is called to a home or office under false pretenses, creating a potentially dangerous situation for the person inside.

Recent incidents such as the attack on the US Capitol on January 6, 2021, have raised concerns about the threat of political violence in the US.

That chaos saw thousands of Trump supporters storm the US Congress in an attempt to disrupt the certification of the 2020 presidential election.

A 2023 investigation by Reuters found that there were 213 cases of political violence in the years since the Capitol riots.

Concerns about political violence continued into the 2024 election, when Trump faced two assassination attempts.

One, in July, resulted in Trump being shot in the ear while standing on stage at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. A member of the audience, firefighter Corey Comperatore, was killed in the attack.

A second assassination attempt on Trump was averted outside his golf course in West Palm Beach, Florida, in September, when a gunman was found hiding in the woods.

And in September, the city of Springfield, Ohio, again received hoax bomb threats against its government buildings, after Trump singled out local Haitian Americans as a threat.

After those threats, politicians on both sides of the aisle asked voters to “turn down the heat” on hostile political rhetoric.

One study even found that tolerance for “group violence” decreased among Republicans after assassination attempts.

“We cannot, we must not go down this road in America. We have gone through it before throughout our history. Violence is never the solution,” said President Joe Biden, a Democrat, in his speech.

Trump, meanwhile, has accused Democrats of fueling the violence, although critics say he has shown a reluctance to paint political opponents as dangerous enemies.

“Because of this Communist Speech Peninsula, bullets are flying, and they’re only going to get worse!” Trump wrote on social media in September.

He also told Fox News that Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris, his rival in the presidential race, are to blame.

“Their speech causes me to be shot, when I am the one who will save the country, and they are the ones who are destroying the country – inside and outside,” he said.

However, there is no evidence that any of Trump’s attacks were inspired by his Democratic rivals.

Still, on Wednesday, Leavitt pointed to Trump as an example of how to handle the latest threats.

“With President Trump as our example, dangerous acts of intimidation and violence will not deter us,” Leavitt said.