Threats and bomb alerts target members of Trump's incoming administration

Cabinet nominees and appointees targeted by violent threats, says transition team spokesperson Karoline Leavitt

Several members of US President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration have received threats, including bomb alerts, a spokesperson for the president-elect said Wednesday.

“Last night and this morning, several of President Trump’s Cabinet nominees and Administration appointees were targeted in violent, un-American threats to their lives and those who live with them,” said transition team spokesperson Karoline Leavitt in a statement.

Without saying who was targeted, Leavitt said these incidents ranged from bomb threats to “swatting”, a practice in which police are summoned urgently to someone’s house under false pretences.

Elise Stefanik, a Trump loyalist congresswoman tapped to be UN ambassador, said her residence in New York was targeted in a bomb threat. In a statement, she said she and her husband and small son were driving home from Washington for the Thanksgiving holiday when they learned of the threat.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation said it was aware of “numerous bomb threats and swatting incidents” and that “we take all potential threats seriously.”

As he prepares to return to the White House in January, Trump has already swiftly assembled a cabinet of loyalists, including several criticised for severe lack of experience.

The Republican, who appears set to avoid trial on criminal prosecutions related to attempts to overthrow his 2020 election loss, was wounded in the ear in July in an assassination attempt.