A surge in bomb threats and swatting incidents against lawmakers since the election underscores the deep political divide in the U.S. and has lawmakers from both parties calling for more protection.
Members of Congress and President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration have been on the receiving end of a rash of false alarms about pipe bombs or dangerous swatting stunts, in which a fake emergency call sends heavily armed police to a target’s residence.
A swatting incident against Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Georgia Republican, led to a woman dying in a car crash with an officer responding to the incident.
Rep. Jared Golden of Maine was the victim of a bomb threat at his home on Thanksgiving, one of several East Coast Democrats targeted with threats during the holiday.
Like the others, the threat against Mr. Golden was sent with a message signed “MAGA.” But he told The Washington Times that authorities don’t know who made the threat via email and that it could have come from a foreign IP address.
Both parties need to do a better job at toning down the rhetoric, he said, such as Democratic leaders saying Mr. Trump’s election “would potentially lead to the end of democracy as we know it” or Republicans calling Democrats “dangerous socialists.”