Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley was reportedly a victim of a swatting incident after an unknown person called 911 at her South Carolina home in December, according to records obtained and reported by Reuters.
Haley, who is running against former President Trump for the GOP nomination, was not at her home in Kiawah Island, S.C. when an unknown man called the police to her home on Dec. 30.
The caller alleged he shot his girlfriend while at Haley’s residence and threatened to harm himself. The incident is under investigation. Haley’s son was not in the area when the hoax call occurred. The former U.N. ambassador’s husband, Michael, is currently fulfilling a year-long deployment in Africa with the South Carolina Army National Guard.
Haley was in touch with the FBI, her team’s head of security and South Carolina’s state police, per Reuters. An FBI official in the Palmetto State told the Kiawah Island director of public safety, Craig Harris, and other law enforcement agencies that they were following the hoax dial and were planning to add a “threat assessment” related to the incident, according to Reuters.
Swatting involves prank-calling emergency service members to report a criminal threat in hopes of drawing a potentially significant response from officers.
In recent months there has been a significant rise in “swatting” incidents directed at institutions and prominent figures across the political spectrum. Two weeks ago, emergency responders were dispatched when a 911 caller falsely claimed of a fire occurring in the White House. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene’s (R-Ga.) home was swatted on Christmas day, according to her post on X, formerly known as Twitter. She said this was the 8th time it had happened.
To crack down on the increase in swatting incidents, a pair of GOP lawmakers introduced legislation to address the issue. Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-Ala.) and Sen. Rick Scott (Fla.) unveiled a bill to amend the federal criminal hoax statutes and enact harsher penalties for swatting.
The Hill has reached out to Haley’s campaign to confirm the incident.
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