2 Charged In 'Swatting' Plot Targeting Former U.S. President, Members Of Congress

WASHINGTON (AP) — A former U.S. president and several members of Congress were targets of a plot carried out by two European men to intimidate and threaten dozens of people by calling in bogus reports of police emergencies at their homes, according to court records unsealed on Wednesday.

Thomasz Szabo, 26, of Romania, and Nemanja Radovanovic, 21, of Serbia, targeted roughly 100 people with “swatting” calls to instigate an aggressive response by police officers at the victims’ homes, a federal indictment alleges.

A U.S. Secret Service agent’s affidavit doesn’t name the former U.S. president or any other officials identified as victims of the hoax calls.

The two defendants are not explicitly charged in the indictment with threatening a former president, but one of the alleged victims is identified as a “former elected official from the executive branch” who was swatted on Jan. 9. 2024. Radovanovic falsely reported a killing and threatened to set off an explosion at that person’s home, the indictment says.

Szabo told Radovanovic that they should pick targets from both the Republican and Democratic parties because “we are not on any side,” the indictment says.

“While some of these calls targeted private citizens chosen seemingly at random, most of the calls targeted public officials, family members of public officials, and other prominent individuals,” the agent wrote.

The calls also included threats to carry out mass shootings at New York City synagogues and to set off explosives at the U.S. Capitol and a university, the indictment said. A federal grand jury in Washington, D.C., handed up the indictment last Thursday.

Online court records in Washington didn’t say if Szabo or Radovanovic have been arrested or if they are