Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, a contender for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, said that police pointed guns at her 87-year-old and 90-year-old parents after her South Carolina home was targeted with a “swatting” hoax last month.


What You Need To Know

  • Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, a contender for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, said that police pointed guns at her 87-year-old and 90-year-old parents after her South Carolina home was targeted with a “swatting” hoax last month

  • Reuters first reported the Dec. 30 incident on Saturday, citing town records from where the former South Carolina governor has her residence in
  • A hoax call was made to local law enforcement by a man who said he killed a woman and was threatening to harm himself, according to Reuters

  • Haley did not directly implicate former President Donald Trump, her chief rival and the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, but she did blame the incident on “the chaos that is surrounding our country right now”
  • So-called “swatting” incidents involve perpetrators attempting to trick law enforcement into an overwhelming response, typically a SWAT team, to a crisis at their target’s residence. Some calls in the last decade have led to police killings of the targeted individuals

“They are 87 and 90, and we take care of them and they were at home and with their caregiver,” Haley said on NBC News’ “Meet the Press” on Sunday. “The last thing you want is to see multiple law enforcement officials with guns drawn pointing at my parents and thinking that something happened. It is an awful situation.”

Reuters first reported the Dec. 30 incident on Saturday, citing town records from where the former South Carolina governor has her residence in. A hoax call was made to local law enforcement by a man who said he killed a woman and was threatening to harm himself, according to Reuters.

“It put the law enforcement officers in danger. It put my family in danger and it was not a safe situation,” Haley said, adding this was the second time she had been targeted by a “swatting” hoax.

A slew of politicians, judges and other public officials have been targeted by so-called “swatting” incidents in recent months. Perpetrators attempt to trick law enforcement into an overwhelming response, typically a SWAT team, to a crisis at their target’s residence. Some calls in the last decade have led to police killings of the targeted individuals.

Haley did not directly implicate former President Donald Trump, her chief rival and the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, but she did blame the incident on “the chaos that is surrounding our country right now.” She frequently makes the case to voters that chaos follows Trump as she tries to undermine his candidacy. Trump has repeatedly insulted and threatened her with political retribution on the campaign trail.

“We have lived in a country of chaos for quite a while now,” Haley said. “It is time that we remember what normal felt like. It is time that we remember what healing feels like. It is time that we remember what it's like not to have division, not to have hate.”

Trump has been angered by her for her continued challenge to his hold on the party after his victories in Iowa and New Hampshire that forced other contenders out of the race. He’s made fun of her birth name and spread conspiracy theories about her citizenship and eligibility for office as the daughter of Indian immigrants. And he’s said her supporters would be “permanently barred” from his political world.

In Las Vegas on Saturday, Trump said Haley's candidacy was a "Trojan horse" for "the radical left" and accused her of playing a role in a conspiracy to rig the 2024 presidential election. Supporters of the former president have enacted violence in the past in his name, most notably during the deadly Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack. Trump has denounced some of his supporters' violent acts, but has pledged to free those imprisoned for violent crimes connected to the Jan. 6 riot.

The judges overseeing the civil fraud case against Trump in New York and the criminal election subversion case against him in Washington, D.C., have both been targeted in recent weeks. Also, Justice Department special counsel Jack Smith was the subject of a fake emergency call Christmas Day.

A series of public officials from across the political spectrum were targeted by swatting over the holidays, and state Capitol buildings and courthouses in states across the U.S. were locked down and evacuated after receiving bomb threats. No explosives were found and no one was hurt.

The FBI said earlier this month that investigators have seen widespread increase in threats of violence, and take them seriously. "When the threats are made as a hoax, it puts innocent people at risk, is a waste of law enforcement’s limited resources, and costs taxpayers," the agency said in a statement.

Public officials targeted by swatting range from Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia to Maine Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, a Democrat who removed Trump from the state’s presidential primary ballot under the U.S. Constitution’s insurrection clause.

Other high-profile targets in recent days include U.S. Sen. Rick Scott of Florida, Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost.