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.
The FBI said in a statement that it is “aware of numerous bomb threats and swatting incidents targeting incoming administration nominees and appointees, and we are working with our law enforcement partners. We take all potential threats seriously, and as always, encourage members of the public to immediately report anything they consider suspicious to law enforcement.”
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.
In Florida, meanwhile, the Okaloosa County sheriff’s office said in an advisory posted 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. this morning.”
While a family member resides at the address, they said "former Congressman Gaetz is NOT a resident. “The mailbox however was cleared and no devices were located. The immediate area was also searched with negative results.”
Gaetz was Trump’s initial pick to serve as attorney general, but he withdrew from consideration amid 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.
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.