USA Bomb threats against Trump's future government team

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is investigating "numerous" bomb threats and false 911 calls targeting future cabinet members of US President-elect Donald Trump. "We take all potential threats seriously and, as always, encourage the public to immediately report anything they believe to be suspicious to law enforcement authorities," reads a statement from the FBI, which was made available to Deutsche Presse-Agentur in Washington.

Trump's designated government spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt announced that the incidents occurred on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning (local time). Law enforcement authorities acted quickly to ensure the safety of those affected. "With President Trump as our role model, dangerous acts of intimidation and violence will not deter us," Leavitt said. Trump won the presidential election against Democrat Kamala Harris in early November and will return to the White House in January.

"Swatting": fake emergencies to trigger police action

In addition to the bomb threats, Leavitt and the FBI also spoke of "swatting" incidents. This involves perpetrators generating fake emergencies to trigger large-scale police operations. The name is a reference to the special units of the US police, abbreviated to SWAT (Special Weapons And Tactics).

Republican MP Elise Stefanik, who is to become Trump's ambassador to the United Nations in New York, announced that there had been a bomb threat against her home in New York state. Stefanik, her husband and her three-year-old son were on their way home from Washington to Saratoga County when they were informed of the incident. The police responded "immediately with the utmost professionalism".

Repeated violence against politicians

During the US election campaign in particular, there was great concern about politically motivated violence in the USA. Incidents such as an assassination attempt and an attempted gun attack on the then Republican candidate Trump further fueled the debate. Shortly before the 2022 US congressional elections, the husband of Democratic US leader Nancy Pelosi was attacked with a hammer at the couple's home in San Francisco. However, the violent storming of the Capitol by Trump's supporters following his defeat in the 2020 presidential election also raised questions about the state of political culture in the USA.

SDA