Evelyn Hockstein | Reuters Police responded to a false 911 call at the home of Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green early Thursday morning, the second “swatting” call targeting the Republican lawmaker in two days, authorities confirmed. Two officers showed up at Green’s home in Rome, Georgia, after receiving a call at 2:53 a.m. ET on Thursday about “a man possibly shooting family members and then himself,” according to a report from the Rome Police Department. The suspect, who called through an online chat that appeared to be a suicide crisis line, falsely told officers that a man “came out as transgender and claimed they shot the family” at Green’s address, the report said. “If anybody tried to stop me from shooting myself, I’m going to shoot them,” said the caller, who gave officers the name Wayne Green and warned they would “be waiting for us,” according to the police report. Officers went to Green’s home and met her at her front door, where they explained the situation, the report said. “They have confirmed that this is a second false report,” the ministry said in a press statement. Officers were unable to see a location used in the suicide chat line “due to people using VPNs,” the report said. The department said it is working with the US Capitol Police on the investigation, which remains active. Green revealed in a tweet Thursday morning that she “got carried away again last night.” Her spokesman, Nick Dyer, told CNBC that he could confirm the incident. “Our number one concern is the safety of Rep. Green and her family,” said a statement from Green’s office, which described the calls as “violent crimes” even though no violence occurred. The far-right congresswoman, who represents Georgia’s 14th Congressional District and is endorsed by former President Donald Trump, was targeted in the first swatting call around 1 a.m. ET Wednesday by an alleged opponent of her stance on transgender rights, the police announced. This caller falsely claimed that a man had been shot multiple times in a bathtub at Green’s residence.
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Read more about CNBC’s political coverage: The department then received a second call from that suspect, who used a computer-generated voice as he claimed responsibility for the incident. The suspect “explained that they were upset about Ms. Green’s stance on ‘transgender youth rights’ and stated that they were trying to ‘SWAT’ her,” the police report said. Green had introduced a bill in Congress last week that would make it a felony to provide gender-affirming care to transgender minors. The legislation came amid a growing right-wing movement against those treatments that recently targeted Boston Children’s Hospital, which said last week it was experiencing an influx of hostile calls and emails, including threats of violence. Green late Thursday morning spoke out against media outlets that have criticized her policy on transgender issues. “These media companies, they are responsible for trying to kill me with these horrible headlines,” she said in an interview with Steve Bannon, a right-wing media host and former top Trump adviser. “The disgusting left, MSNBC and NBC, putting headlines up there that I’m targeting trans kids, that’s the biggest lie and I should sue them for saying things like that,” Green said. Disclosure: NBC, MSNBC and CNBC are divisions of NBCUniversal.
