A number of Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees and nominees for his White House team have been targeted for bomb threats.
The FBI said it was aware of “numerous bomb threats” and “spam incidents”, where calls were made for police to respond to the target’s home.
Threats were made against Trump’s choice to head the Departments of Housing, Agriculture and Labor, as well as his choice for US ambassador to the United Nations.
The police are investigating the incidents that happened on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
Caroline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Trump’s transition team, said Trump’s appointees were “subjected to violent, un-American threats to their lives and those with whom they live”.
He said there were many people who were targeted and “law enforcement has taken immediate action to ensure” their safety.
“With President Trump as our example, dangerous acts of intimidation and violence will not deter us,” she said.
Neither Leavitt nor the FBI identified any targets by name.
New York Republican Elise Stefanik, whom Trump nominated to be the US ambassador to the United Nations, was the first to say that her home was attacked by a bomb threat.
But Stefanik’s office says the congressman was alerted to the bomb threat while traveling with her husband and three-year-old son from Washington DC to New York for Thanksgiving.
Separately, New York police later told the BBC’s American counterpart CBS that the New York home of Trump’s Commerce Secretary nominee, Howard Lutnick, was also under threat.
Trump, who survived two assassination attempts while campaigning, was not among those who received threats, law enforcement sources told American media.
None of those targeted were US Secret Service agents, according to media reports.
Lee Zeldin, Trump’s nominee to head the Environmental Protection Agency, also confirmed he was targeted, saying a “bomb threat” was sent to his home with a “Palestine-themed message”.
“My family and I were not at home at the time and we are safe,” he said. “We appreciate the prompt action taken by the local police.”
Brooke Rollins, Trump’s pick to head the Department of Agriculture, wrote to X thanking police in Fort Worth, Texas, for their “quick efforts” to investigate the threat to her family Wednesday morning.
“We were not injured and returned home quickly,” he wrote.
Scott Turner, Trump’s pick for the Department of Housing, and Lori Chavez-Deremer, the pick for Labor Secretary, also posted on social media that they were targeted. Each of them swore that they would not give up because of these threats.
President Joe Biden has been “notified” of these threats, the White House said in a statement.
“The White House is in contact with law enforcement and the President-elect’s team, and continues to monitor the situation closely.”
Florida Republican Matt Gaetz, who recently stepped down as US attorney general, was also targeted.
The sheriff’s office in Okaloosa County in Florida confirmed that a bomb threat was made against an address in the city of Niceville.
The home’s mailbox has been cleared and no equipment was found, police said, and a search of the area turned up nothing.
Fox News also reports that John Ratcliffe, Trump’s nominee for CIA director, and Defense Secretary nominee Pete Hegseth have received threats.
Similar deceptive tactics have recently been used against other high-profile political figures, including judges and prosecutors who oversaw criminal cases against Trump.
Last year, American politicians across the country were obsessed with Christmas. Most were Republicans, but some Democrats were also targeted.
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