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Wednesday November 27, 2024

Trump team reports bomb threats to cabinet nominees

FBI says aware of "numerous bomb threats" and swatting incidents

By AFP
November 27, 2024
US President-elect Donald Trump speaks at the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) gala at Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, US, November 14, 2024. — Reuters
US President-elect Donald Trump speaks at the America First Policy Institute (AFPI) gala at Mar-A-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, US, November 14, 2024. — Reuters  

WASHINGTON: Several members of Donald Trump's incoming administration have received threats including bomb alerts, a spokeswoman for the president-elect said Wednesday.

"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," said transition team spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt in a statement.

Without saying who was targeted, Leavitt said these incidents ranged from bomb threats to "swatting," the practice in which police are summoned urgently to someone's house under false pretenses.

Elise Stefanik, a Trump loyalist congresswoman tapped to be UN ambassador, said her residence in New York was targeted in a bomb threat.

In a statement she said she and husband and small son were driving home from Washington for the Thanksgiving holiday when they learned of the threat.

The FBI said it was aware of "numerous bomb threats and swatting incidents" and that "we take all potential threats seriously."

As he prepares to return to the White House in January, Trump has already swiftly assembled a cabinet of loyalists, including several criticized for severe lack of experience.

The Republican, who appears set to avoid trial on criminal prosecutions related to attempts to overthrow his 2020 election loss, was wounded in the ear in July in an assassination attempt.