On Thursday, at least five Democratic congressmen representing Connecticut received bomb threat calls to their homes. It comes a day after at least 10 of President-elect Donald Trump's top candidates were also targeted in swatting attacks.
Representatives Joe Courtney, Jahana Hayes, Jim Himes, and John Larson, as well as Senator Chris Murphy, were identified by other members of Congress as targets in the Thanksgiving incident. If you are among the latest victims in a list that is likely to grow further.
“This appears to be part of a coordinated effort involving multiple members of Congress and celebrities,” the statement said. A spokesperson for Murphy told Axios..
The FBI is investigating the false report.
Swatting is a dangerous activity that, in the worst-case scenario, can threaten the target's life and property, especially when faced with a heavily armed police response.
Former Rep. Gee Zeldin (R-N.Y.), who was nominated by President Trump to head the Environmental Protection Agency, said the threats to her home included “pro-Palestinian-themed messages.”
Other targets Wednesday included President Trump's nominee for U.N. ambassador, Elise Stefanik, Commerce secretary nominee Howard Lutnick, attorney general nominee Pam Bondi, and incoming White House chief of staff Susie. Wiles and Pete Hegseth, who was nominated to be Secretary of Defense, were also included.
The motivations behind the series of harassment reports have varied, and in some cases, the perpetrators were unexpected.
Hundreds of threatening phone calls, including bomb threats, were made to Jewish community centers in 2016 and 2017, creating a perception that anti-Semitism was on the rise, but ultimately the culprits were identified as Jewish-Israeli-Americans. It was revealed that the teenager confessed that he did it out of boredom. He claimed he was receiving payments online for blackmail purposes.
