Several of Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees and picks for his White House team have been targeted by bomb threats.
The FBI said it was aware of “numerous bomb threats” as well as “swatting incidents”, in which hoax calls are made to attract a police response to the target’s home.
New York Republican Elise Stefanik, who Trump has named to be the US ambassador to the United Nations, was the first to say her family home had been targeted by a bomb threat.
Police are investigating the incidents, which happened on Tuesday night and Wednesday morning.
Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Trump’s transition team, said the Trump appointees “were targeted in violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them”.
She said that several people had been targeted and “law enforcement acted quickly 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 of the targets by name.
But Stefanik’s office said the congresswoman was informed of the bomb threat while she was driving with her husband and three-year-old son from Washington to New York for Thanksgiving.
Separately, New York police later told the BBC’s US partner CBS that the home of Trump’s nominee for commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, was also threatened.
Trump, who survived two assassination attempts during his campaign, was not among those who received threats, law enforcement sources told US media.
None of those targeted were protectees of the US Secret Service, according to media reports.
Lee Zeldin, who Trump has nominated to become administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, also confirmed he was targeted, saying a “pipe bomb threat” was sent to his home with a “pro-Palestinian themed message”.
“My family and I were not home at the time and are safe,” he said. “We are thankful for the swift actions taken by local officers.”
Brooke Rollins, Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Agriculture, posted on X to thank police in Fort Worth, Texas, for their “swift efforts” to investigate a threat to her family on Wednesday morning.
“We were unharmed and quickly returned home,” she wrote.
“I want to express my deep gratitude to the law-enforcement professionals who did their utmost, in both speed and expertise, to protect us — as they protect our community every single day.”
Florida Republican Matt Gaetz, who recently dropped out of the running to become US attorney general, was also targeted.
The sheriff’s office in Florida’s Okaloosa County confirmed that a bomb threat targeted an address in the town of Niceville.
The home’s mailbox was cleared and no devices were located, police said, and a search of the area did not uncover anything.
Fox News also reports that John Ratcliffe, Trump’s nominee to be director of the CIA, and defence secretary nominee Pete Hegseth were also targeted in the wave of threats.
Similar hoax tactics have been recently used against other high-profile political figures, including against the judges and prosecutors who oversaw the criminal cases against Trump.
Last year, US politicians around the country were swatted over Christmas. Most were Republican, but some Democrats were targeted as well.
