Tuesday, January 30, 2024
Year : 2, Issue : 5
Nikki Haley was targeted by a second “swatting” attempt on New Year’s Day – just two days after authorities responded to a similar call regarding Haley, according to Reuters.
This time, the call was made by someone who said Haley’s daughter had been shot and was lying in a pool of blood. The caller, who told police her name was Rose, also said she was on the phone with Haley, who was threatening to shoot herself.
After the 2024 Republican presidential candidate and former governor of South Carolina confirmed, on NBC’s Meet the Press on Monday, that she had been the victim of a swatting hoax, new information from an incident report obtained by Reuters has revealed she was actually swatted on two separate occasions.
Police first responded to a swatting call – or a prank call intentionally made to lure resources such as a Swat team to a location to respond to a false threat of danger – at Haley’s home in Kiawah Island, South Carolina, on 30 December.
The 1 January incident marks the second swatting attempt against Haley.
Haley is now one of several high profile politicians targeted by swatting calls.
In December, the home of the Florida senator Rick Scott was also swatted. Greene said on X that she had been a victim of a swatting call several times, including once on Christmas Day.
False cries of danger were also conducted on a larger scale earlier this month, when at least nine state capitol buildings across the US were under evacuation orders due to bomb threats that turned out to be fake.
A judge in Donald Trump’s federal election subversion case was also targeted.
The US attorney general, Merrick Garland,described a “deeply disturbing spike” in threats against public officials.
