Multiple Trump Cabinet nominees targeted by threats

Several of U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's Cabinet and administration picks were targeted by bomb threats and "swatting incidents," the Trump transition team 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," Trump transition spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said in a statement.

"Those attacks ranged from bomb threats to 'swatting'," she continued, without offering specifics about who was targeted.

Swatting incidents involve falsely reporting an emergency to law enforcement, usually police or SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) teams, with the aim of triggering a massive, heavily armed response at an innocent person's location.

Law enforcement and other authorities acted quickly to ensure the safety of those who were targeted, according to the statement posted on X.

Susie Wiles, Trump's incoming White House chief of staff, Pam Bondi, the former Florida attorney general whom Trump has chosen to be the next U.S. attorney general, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik, Trump's pick to be the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, Howard Lutnick, Trump's pick to be secretary of commerce, as well as Brooke Rollins, Trump's pick to be secretary of agriculture, were targeted in the attacks, CBS News reported.

A White House spokesperson said Democratic U.S. President Joe Biden had been briefed about the threats. "The president and the administration unequivocally condemn threats of political violence," the spokesperson said.

The threats come months after Trump was wounded in an assassination attempt in Pennsylvania in July. In a separate incident in September, a man was charged with attempted assassination after allegedly positioning himself with a rifle outside one of Trump's Florida golf courses.

(With input from agencies)