Trump Cabinet nominees hit with swatting calls, bomb threats

Several members of President-elect Donald Trump’s proposed Cabinet were hit with swatting calls, bomb threats and other harassing calls late Tuesday night and early Wednesday morning, according to the FBI.

The agency issued a statement on Wednesday, saying the bureau was “aware of numerous bomb threats and swatting incidents targeting incoming administration nominees and appointees, and we are working with our law enforcement partners.”

Incoming White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt also confirmed the incidents, calling them “violent, un-American threats,” and thanking law enforcement for acting quickly “to ensure the safety of those who were targeted.”

Leavitt did not say exactly which members of Trump’s incoming administration were hit with the harassing calls, but Fox News reported nearly a dozen Cabinet nominees were affected. None of the threats appeared to be legitimate.

New York Rep. Elise Stefanik, Trump’s nominee for United Nations ambassador, confirmed Wednesday that her upstate home in Saratoga County was targeted by a bomb threat. Stefanik’s office said she and her family weren’t at the residence at the time, but were driving home from Washington, D.C., when she was informed of the threat.

Brooke Rollins, whom Trump has nominated for secretary of agriculture, and Lee Zeldin, tapped for EPA administrator, separately confirmed on social media that they too had been targeted but were unharmed.

Zeldin, a former U.S. rep from Long Island, said a pipe bomb threat against his home had been sent in “with a pro-Palestinian-themed message.”

Former Florida Rep. Matt Gaetz, who last week withdrew his name from consideration for Trump’s attorney general position, was hit with his own pipe bomb threat Wednesday morning, according to PunchBowl News. Gaetz wasn’t home at the time, but a family member reportedly was.

Many of Trump’s picks for his second administration — including Gaetz — have been heavily criticized, and several have a history of sexual assault and harassment allegations.

Pete Hegseth, nominee for secretary of defense, was accused of sexual assault in a 2017 California incident. Police did not pursue charges against Hegseth, though he paid his accuser in an out-of-court settlement.

Just last month, secretary of education nominee Linda McMahon was named in a lawsuit alongside her husband, Vince McMahon, over alleged misconduct at their pro wrestling company, WWE. The suit, filed on behalf of five alleged victims, accused the co-founders of knowingly allowing the sexual abuse of young “ring boys” throughout the 1980s and ’90s. She has denied the allegations.