FBI now investigating

Trump’s ministerial candidates threatened with attacks

US Congresswoman Elise Stefanik(Bild: AFP/Charly Triballeau)

Some of future US President Donald Trump's cabinet members have been threatened with bomb attacks. Some of them have also been the target of so-called swatting, Trump's spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt announced on Wednesday. This involves faking an emergency.

This can lead to special police units being deployed because people's lives are supposedly in danger. The name is a reference to the special units of the US police, abbreviated to SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics). The attacks were threatened on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning, the spokeswoman said. Security forces responded immediately to ensure the protection of those affected.

The spokeswoman did not initially say who the threatened attacks were aimed at. They were aimed at designated high-ranking employees of the Trump administration and a few selected cabinet members. According to Republican MP Elise Stefanik, who is to become ambassador to the United Nations, there was a bomb threat against her home in the US state of New York. She, her husband and their three-year-old son were on their way home when they were informed.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it was investigating "numerous" bomb threats and false 911 calls. "We take all potential threats seriously and, as always, encourage the public to immediately report anything they believe to be suspicious to law enforcement."

"With President Trump as our role model, dangerous acts of intimidation and violence will not deter us," his spokeswoman said. He did not initially comment on the incidents. The US President-elect was injured in the ear in an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania last July. The husband of Democratic politician Nancy Pelosi was attacked with a hammer shortly before the 2022 US congressional elections.