[Source: BBC News]
Some of Donald Trump’s cabinet nominees and appointees for his incoming administration have been targeted by bomb threats, the FBI says.
It said it was aware of “numerous bomb threats” as well as “swatting incidents”, in which prank calls are made to attract a police response to the target’s home.
The office of New York Republican Elise Stefanik, who Trump has named to be the US ambassador to the United Nations, said she had received a bomb threat.
Police are investigating the incidents.
In a statement, Karoline Leavitt, a spokeswoman for Trump’s transition team, said several people had been targeted and “law enforcement acted quickly to ensure” their safety.
Neither Leavitt or the FBI identified any of the targets by name.
But Stefanik’s office said the congresswoman was informed of a bomb threat on her home while she was driving with her husband and son from Washington to New York for Thanksgiving.
Separately, New York police told the BBC’s US partner CBS that the home of Trump’s pick for commerce secretary, Howard Lutnick, was also threatened.
Lee Zeldin, who Trump has nominated to become administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, also confirmed he was targeted, saying that a pipe bomb had been 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.
US news outlets have also reported that Florida Republican Matt Gaetz, who dropped out of the running to become US attorney general, was also targeted.
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