Trump administration nominees targeted with bomb and swatting threats

House Republican Conference Chair Rep. Elise Stefanik on Capitol Hill on November 13, 2024 in Washington, DC.

Several of Donald Trump’s cabinet picks, including Elise Stefanik and Lee Zeldin, faced bomb threats and "swatting" this week, a spokesperson for the transition team said Wednesday. Stefanik is Trump's choice to be US ambassador to the United Nations and Zeldin is Trump's pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency.

Several of President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet and administration picks were targeted this week with actions including bomb threats and "swatting," a spokesperson for the transition team said on Wednesday.

The threats were made Tuesday night and Wednesday morning, and law enforcement acted quickly to ensure the safety of those targeted, spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

Elise Stefanik, a Republican US representative and Trump's choice to be US ambassador to the United Nations, and Lee Zeldin, a former Republican congressman who is Trump's pick to head the Environmental Protection Agency, both said in separate statements they had been the targets of bomb threats.

On Wednesday evening Pete Hegseth, Trump's nominee to be US defense secretary, said his family had been the target of a pipe bomb threat.

"This morning, a police officer arrived at our home – where our seven children were still sleeping. The officer notified my wife and I that they had received a credible pipe bomb threat targeting me and my family. We are all safe and the threat has been cleared," Hegseth said on X.

Zeldin said he and his family also had been targeted.

"The president and the administration unequivocally condemn threats of political violence," the spokesperson said.

(Reuters)


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