Trump spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt announced in a chilling post on Wednesday that members of President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team have been targeted with “violent, unAmerican threats to their lives” and left open the possibility that more are still to come.
Leavitt, who Trump announced this month will become the youngest White House press secretary in history, made waves with a statement Wednesday morning acknowledging that death threats are being factored into the team’s return to power. “Last night and this morning, several of President Trump’s Cabinet nominees and Administration appointees were targeted in violent, unAmerican threats to their lives and those who live with them,” Leavitt said in the statement. “These attacks ranged from bomb threats to ‘swatting.’ In response, law enforcement and other authorities acted quickly to ensure the safety of those who were targeted. President Trump and the entire Transition team are grateful for their swift action.”
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She concluded: “President Trump and the Transition are focused on doing the work of uniting our nation by ensuring a safe and prosperous future. With President Trump as our example, dangerous acts of intimidation and violence will not deter us.”
— Karoline Leavitt (@karolineleavitt) November 27, 2024
Swatting, or the practice of baiting SWAT teams to raid the homes or businesses of innocent parties, has emerged as a 21st-century threat for law enforcement and led to the death of individuals targeted by pranksters. In January the White House itself was the target of an attack that saw police and firefighters respond to false reports of a fire inside the West Wing, CNN reported at the time. Other recent targets include Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), Maine’s Democratic Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, and two of the judges in Trump’s various legal cases. In 2017 the stunt led to the death of Andrew Finch, a video game enthusiast who was accidentally killed by a team of officers while mistakenly raiding his home.
Local law enforcement has visited the homes of several transition members in response to threats, Fox News Digital reported. All come months after President-elect Trump survived two attempts on his life, including the deadly July 17th shooting that nicked his ear and caused the death of two rallygoers in Butler, Pennsylvania. In August another attempted assassin was spotted in the bushes outside a Trump golf course in Florida where the Republican was in the middle of play. Thomas Crooks, the 20-year-old behind the Butler shooting, was killed by counter-snipers while Ryan Routh, the suspect in the Florida attempt, was arrested by police and remains part of an ongoing investigation.
On Tuesday an Arizona man who previously attended a Trump rally was arrested by the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms on suspicion of preparing to carry out another assassination attempt against the president-elect, Fox News reported.
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