Name: FBI investigates bomb threats, swatting attacks against Republicans
Uploaded: 2025-12-03T18:40:22.340Z
Duration: 4 min 17 s
Description: The FBI is investigating bomb threats and swatting attacks against multiple Republican Indiana lawmakers. CBS News justice correspondent Scott MacFarlane has more.

The FBI is investigating bomb threats and swatting attacks against multiple Republican Indiana lawmakers. CBS News justice correspondent Scott MacFarlane has more.

Indiana

The FBI and Indiana State Police are investigating a series of violent threats, including bomb and swatting incidents, targeting at least a dozen Republican state legislators in Indiana. The threats coincide with ongoing debates over a controversial redistricting bill, and some targeted lawmakers were named in a recent presidential social media post.

In related news, the president has issued a pardon for Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar and his wife before Cuellar's trial on charges of acting as an illegal foreign agent and bribery. This move closes the case against Cuellar, allowing him to seek reelection in his competitive district.

FBI investigates bomb threats, swatting attacks against Republicans

The FBI is investigating a rash of violent threats aimed at Republican lawmakers in Indiana. At least a dozen GOP state legislators have been subjected to bomb threats, swatting, and death threats. This comes as the president has been putting pressure on them to pass a controversial redistricting bill. CBS News Justice Correspondent Scott McFarlane has more on all this. Scott, good to see you. So what are we learning about these threats, and what is the FBI doing about them? The FBI and the Indiana State Police are both investigating this outbreak of threats targeting Republican state legislators in Indiana, and both tell CBS News they have not yet found the person or people responsible. The FBI, as you see from their statement, says they are using their capabilities, their unique capabilities, to try to identify whoever is responsible. But to be clear, Vlad, these are a malicious and malignant set of attacks against public officials. There are swatting calls. You know, swatting calls are when you make a false call of an emergency at a target's home to lure the police there and maybe, maybe engage in some type of confrontation unknowingly with the police. There are pipe bomb threats, threats that also manifested themselves over the holiday weekend last weekend. And there is a clear connective tissue here. These are Republican state senators who will make decisive votes on whether to redistrict, redraw the maps in Indiana ahead of the 2026 midterms. The president posted on Truth Social a few weeks ago naming some names of Republicans, he says, who are opposing this redistricting. Those are among the people who have been victimized by these threats. And that Truth Social post has some connection, because the people named there are among those victimized. And you actually spoke with one of those lawmakers who was swatted. What did they tell you? A Republican from a rural community just to the east and south of West Lafayette, Indiana. That's where Purdue University is. He was hit over the last few days. He's actually one of the opponents, or I should say, one of the supporters of the redistricting. But he says those who've been targeted, himself included, are not changing their positions just because they're threatened. And I don't appreciate that kind of anger, that kind of violence, you know, or a democracy. I think, honestly, I think it came out of state. I don't think it's coming from local Hoosiers. I think it's out-of-state individuals doing it. Hoosiers take a little bit more pride and a little bit more, you know, down-to-earth that we believe that if you don't believe in something someone is saying, you can go to the voter's box and vote them in or you vote them out. Again, Vlad, state police, FBI, both investigating. All right. And, Scott, we're getting some breaking news into the newsroom. The president has just announced a pardon for Texas Congressman Henry Cuellar. Break that down for me. This is surprising for several reasons. Let me just list them in order. First of all, pardons are typically for people who've already been convicted in their cases, made some restitution, acknowledged their guilt, tried to make atonement for it. Henry Cuellar hadn't even gone on trial yet. I mean, typically, that's for a jury to decide whether somebody should be absolved or found guilty. But the president, as you see from that Truth Social post, has pardoned Henry Cuellar before the case even went to a jury, before it even went to trial. Henry Cuellar is a Democrat from Texas in a uniquely competitive district, where the argument could be made Henry Cuellar, despite this legal matter, could be the only Democrat who could hold that seat. He's now been absolved and can safely run for reelection for the Democrats next year. The third issue here is this is a significant case. This is not jaywalking. Henry Cuellar is accused of acting as an illegal foreign agent on behalf of Azerbaijan while serving in the U.S. Congress, engaging in a bribery scheme, along with his wife, who also appears to have been issued clemency. You see the name Imelda Cuellar on that Truth Social post. She was his co-defendant. Henry Cuellar is co-defendant in the case. That case now ends in the Southern District of Texas, where Henry Cuellar represents. Really curious. All right, Scott McFarland reporting for us from D.C. Scott, thank you.

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