{"id":3006,"date":"2024-11-28T02:20:22","date_gmt":"2024-11-28T02:20:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/several-trump-cabinet-picks-targeted-in-string-of-bomb-threats-and-swatting-attacks\/"},"modified":"2024-11-28T02:20:22","modified_gmt":"2024-11-28T02:20:22","slug":"several-trump-cabinet-picks-targeted-in-string-of-bomb-threats-and-swatting-attacks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/several-trump-cabinet-picks-targeted-in-string-of-bomb-threats-and-swatting-attacks\/","title":{"rendered":"Several Trump Cabinet picks targeted in string of bomb threats and swatting attacks"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-testid=\"byline-container\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/author\/clarissa-jan-lim-ncpn1307846\"><picture data-testid=\"picture\"><source media=\"(min-width: 320px)\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_focal-60x60,f_auto,q_auto:best\/newscms\/2024_08\/3635688\/clarissa-jan-lim-msnbc.png\" alt height=\"48\" width=\"48\"><\/source><\/picture><\/a><\/div>\n<div>\n<p class>Several officials whom President-elect <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/donald-trump\" target=\"_blank\">Donald Trump<\/a> has picked to join his incoming administration were targeted by bomb threats and &ldquo;swatting&rdquo; attacks,<strong> <\/strong>his transition team said Wednesday. <\/p>\n<p class>&ldquo;Last night and this morning, several of President Trump&rsquo;s Cabinet nominees and Administration appointees were targeted in violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,&rdquo; Trump transition spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/karolineleavitt\/status\/1861807887107961315?s=46\" target=\"_blank\">a statement<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p class>The FBI said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fbi.gov\/news\/press-releases\/fbi-statement-regarding-threats-to-nominees-and-appointees\" target=\"_blank\">statement<\/a> that it was aware of those incidents and is &ldquo;working with our law enforcement partners.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p class><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/news\/us-news\/fbi-formed-national-database-track-prevent-swatting-rcna91722\" target=\"_blank\">Swatting<\/a> typically&nbsp;involves a false 911 report of an emergency at a location to elicit an aggressive police response and<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/2024\/01\/14\/us\/swatting-incidents-trend-explained\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\"> can turn deadly<\/a>. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/donald-trump\/several-trump-picks-top-jobs-targeted-bomb-swatting-threats-rcna182031\" target=\"_blank\">NBC News reported<\/a> that three senior law enforcement officials briefed on the swatting attack said the threats were not credible, and that no devices or physical threats were found.<\/p>\n<p class>Leavitt did not name the people who received those threats, but they did not involve Trump or Vice President-elect JD Vance, the officials told NBC News.<\/p>\n<p class>However, Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-N.Y., and former Rep. Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., have said they were targeted. <\/p>\n<p class>Stefanik, Trump&rsquo;s pick for United Nations ambassador, said she received a bomb threat at her home in Saratoga County, New York, while driving there from Washington, D.C. on Wednesday morning. &ldquo;New York State, County law enforcement, and U.S. Capitol Police responded immediately with the highest levels of professionalism,&rdquo; her office said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/EliseStefanik\/status\/1861815886123778348\" target=\"_blank\">statement<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class>Gaetz, whose <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/top-stories\/latest\/matt-gaetz-withdraws-trump-attorney-general-pick-rcna181207\" target=\"_blank\">nomination for U.S. attorney general imploded<\/a> last week amid allegations he engaged in sexual misconduct and illegal drug use, also confirmed that he was the target of a bomb threat, NBC News reported.<strong> <\/strong>(Gaetz has denied any wrongdoing. A Justice Department probe concluded last year, without bringing charges against him. The House Ethics Committee separately investigated the matter but has not publicly released its findings.)<strong> <\/strong>A bomb squad was sent to the former congressman&rsquo;s home in Florida, and the Okaloosa County Sheriff&rsquo;s Office said no bomb-related devices were found. <\/p>\n<p>There have been a string of violent threats and swatting attacks against public officials in the past year amid a divided political climate. Many of those targeted have been public figures whom Trump has railed against, or those considered to be his political foes, including several <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/deadline-white-house\/watch\/rep-swalwell-and-family-threatened-as-swatting-calls-on-the-rise-across-the-united-states-201374789940\" target=\"_blank\">Democrats<\/a> &mdash; as well as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/top-stories\/latest\/white-house-swatting-call-violent-threats-public-officials-rcna134091\" target=\"_blank\">Biden White House<\/a> &mdash; and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/rachel-maddow\/watch\/special-counsel-jack-smith-among-spate-of-officials-targeted-by-holiday-hoax-swatting-nbc-news-201587781628\" target=\"_blank\">special counsel Jack Smith<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div data-activity-map=\"expanded-byline-article-bottom\">\n<div data-testid=\"byline-thumbnail\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/author\/clarissa-jan-lim-ncpn1307846\"><picture data-testid=\"picture\"><source media=\"(min-width: 320px)\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_focal-60x60,f_auto,q_auto:best\/newscms\/2024_08\/3635688\/clarissa-jan-lim-msnbc.png\" alt height=\"48\" width=\"48\"><\/source><\/picture><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span data-testid=\"byline-name\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/author\/clarissa-jan-lim-ncpn1307846\">Clarissa-Jan Lim<\/a><\/span><span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking\/trending news blogger for BLN Digital. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/top-stories\/latest\/trump-cabinet-admin-stefanik-gaetz-bomb-threats-swatting-rcna182060\" class=\"button purchase\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Several officials whom President-elect Donald Trump has picked to join his incoming administration were targeted by bomb threats and &ldquo;swatting&rdquo; attacks, his transition team said Wednesday. &ldquo;Last night and this morning, several of President Trump&rsquo;s Cabinet nominees and Administration appointees were targeted in violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,&rdquo; [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3007,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3006","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trump"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3006","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3006"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3006\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3007"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}