The FBI has created a special unit to tackle the “unprecedented” number of threats to prosecutors and FBI agents involved in the Hunter Biden investigation, as they face criticism for not being tough enough on the first son.
“We have stood up an entire threat unit to address threats that the FBI employee facilities are receiving,” Jennifer L. Moore, then an executive director of human resources for the FBI, told members of the House Judiciary Committee in June, according to a transcript reviewed by NBC News.
The new unit would comprise 10 agents whose “sole mission on a daily basis” is to investigate “threats to FBI employees at facilities,” Moore said.
She called the number of threats and attacks on FBI agents “unprecedented,” saying, “It’s a number we’ve never had before.”
Threats to FBI agents’ facilities had more than doubled, with more threats reported from October through March than in the previous year, Moore told lawmakers.
Officials also say the pace of threats increased after the FBI began investigating former President Donald Trump last summer, and has not slowed down since.
Only high-ranking FBI officials and prosecutors have armed protection — including special counsel Jack Smith and his team, as well as Robert Hur, the special counsel appointed to investigate classified documents found at President Biden’s home and office.
One federal prosecutor, Lesley Wolf — who was part of US Attorney David Weiss’ team investigating Hunter Biden’s foreign business dealings — received a barrage of credible threats after two IRS agents accused her of making decisions favorable to the first family.
She decided to seek security help from the US Marshals Service amid these threats, according to previously unreleased testimony from an FBI official to the House Judiciary Committee last week.
FBI agents also told the House Judiciary Committee that Laura Dehmlow, who headed the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force and has been accused by congressional Republicans of suppressing social media and news coverage of the contents of Hunter Biden’s laptop, was the target of multiple threats, two congressional officials told NBC News.
Agents have also been receiving threats for their investigations of Trump.
An intelligence bulletin last year said the bureau was investigating an unprecedented number of threats against agents and facilities in the wake of the August 2022 raid on Mar-a-Lago.
Just a couple of days after the search, a man who was at the Capitol riot was shot and killed when he tried to breach the FBI’s Cincinnati office wearing body armor and carrying a rifle.
An intelligence bulletin last year said the bureau was investigating an unprecedented number of threats against agents and facilities in the wake of the August 2022 raid on Mar-a-Lago.
On Thursday, the Atlanta field office also said in a statement it is aware of threats of violence against officials in Fulton County, Ga., where Trump and 18 co-defendants face trial for allegedly trying to overturn the 2020 election results.
It said, “Each and every potential threat brought to our attention is taken seriously. Individuals found responsible for making threats in violation of state and/or federal laws will be prosecuted.”
A source familiar with the matter also told NBC News that some FBI personnel have been the victims of “swatting,” in which someone calls in a false report that leads armed police to rush to a home.
In some cases, the threats to FBI agents have expanded to include their families, an agent involved in the Hunter Biden investigation told the House Judiciary Committee last week.
“Things towards their families, that has absolutely increased,” Thomas Sabocinski said in a transcribed interview.
“The sense of the employees, and especially the sense of these families, is yes, they feel threatened.”
In a statement, Natalie Barra, president of the FBI Agents Association, a nonprofit group that advocates for current and retired agents, said, “FBI special agents and their families should never be threatened with violence, including for doing their jobs.