US President-elect Donald Trump’s many Cabinet nominees, including Elise Stefanik, Lee Zeldin, and Pete Hegseth, were recently targeted by bomb threats and swatting incidents over this week.
What is ‘SWATTING’?
Swatting is a ‘practice’ or a ‘false work process’ that manipulates emergency services into deploying armed response teams to a false location and has now emerged as a tool of political harassment. It is also a dangerous hoax that sends armed police to false emergencies, costing their lives and resources.
Law enforcement acted instantly to the swatting threat that were made on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning. Their quick response ensured the safety of those targeted, according to a statement by spokesperson Karoline Leavitt.
Elise Stefanik, a Republican US representative who is Trump’s choice to be US ambassador to the United Nations, and Lee Zeldin, a former Republican congressman who was Trump’s selection to head the Environmental Protection Agency, both said they had been targeted with bomb threats.
Pete Hegseth, Trump’s nominee to be a US defence secretary, said that his family was targetted with a pipe bomb threat. Further, Hegseth posted on X, saying, “This morning, a police officer arrived at our home, where our seven children were still sleeping. The officer notified my wife and me that they had received a credible pipe bomb threat targeting me and my family. We are all safe and the threat has been cleared,”
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Law Enforcement experts see swatting as a form of harassment and defamation that is increasingly being used to target prominent figures. The FBI spokesperson said: “We take all potential threats seriously, and as always, encourage members of the public to immediately report anything they consider suspicious to law enforcement,”
Stefanik, one of the cabinet nominees who was given threats, gave a statement on Wednesday saying that her husband and their 3-year-old son were driving from Washington, D.C., to their family’s home in New York, when they were informed about the threat against their home.
On the other hand, Zeldin also said that his family had been targeted. He later posted on X saying: “A pipe bomb threat targeting me and my family at our home today was sent in with a pro-Palestinian themed message,”. He later added, “My family and I were not home at the time, but we were safe. We are working with law enforcement to learn more as this situation develops.”
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