Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley was the victim of a tactical police response induced by a prank, commonly known as “swatting,” at her home in December, according to a report by Reuters.
Haley, a former governor of South Carolina and U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, is one of two major candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, the other being former President Donald Trump, the leading candidate. On Dec. 30, a man reportedly called police claiming to have shot a woman and threatening to harm himself at Haley’s home in Kiawah Island, South Carolina, according to town records obtained by Reuters.
“[A man] claimed to have shot his girlfriend and threatened to harm himself while at the residence of Nikki Haley,” wrote Craig Harris, Kiawah Island’s director of public safety, in an email to town officials about the incident, which Reuters obtained. “It was determined to be a hoax…Nikki Haley is not on the island and her son is with her,” Harris added, indicating that she was not at home at the time of the incident.
“This incident is being investigated by all involved,” Harris wrote in the email, referring to the South Carolina Department of Public Safety and the FBI, Reuters reported. In a separate email obtained by Reuters, an FBI official wrote that the bureau was investigating the hoax call and sought to conduct a “threat assessment” about the situation.
Kiawah Island, which is adjacent to the port city of Charleston in South Carolina, is a gated enclosure housing approximately 2,000 people, Reuters reported. Haley, who served as the state’s governor from 2011 to 2017, moved into a $2.4 million, 5,774-square-foot waterfront property on the island in 2019, according to realtor.com.
The act of “swatting” has been used against several high-profile public figures in recent years. Republican Sen. Rick Scottof Florida, Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and legal scholar Jonathan Turley have all been affected by the phenomenon.
Greene has indicated that she will introduce legislation to pass an act of Congress seeking to combat the issue.
Several individuals who have been condemned by Trump have also been the victims of “swatting.” These include U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan of the District of Columbia, who is presiding over Trump’s criminal prosecution in Washington, D.C., for his attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election, and New York Supreme Court Justice Arthur Engoron, who is presiding over a civil fraud trial against Trump.
While major presidential and vice-presidential candidates are eligible to become protectees of the United States Secret Service, such protection must be authorized by the Secretary of Homeland Security in consultation with a Congressional Advisory Committee, or be ordered by the president. Haley does not currently receive such protection, while Trump, as a former president, receives Secret Service protection for the remainder of his life.
Haley’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
