Senator Scott Wiener Ordered Away From Home Following Credible Bombing Threat

Senator Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) was ordered away from his San Francisco home on Sunday following a credible bomb threat and a joint San Francisco Police Department and California Highway Patrol investigation.

According to authorities, an obscenity filled e-mail was sent to Sen. Wiener and members of his staff early Sunday, saying that the Senator “should die” and that bombs had been placed in his home as well as his office.

“We placed bombs in his office and his house,” the e-mail to Wiener said with the subject line “he will die today. You bastards all deserve to die.”

After being alerted of the e-mail, both the SFPD and CHP had Wiener stay away from his home and office while teams from both law enforcement agencies checked both places out.

“The San Francisco Police Department is aware of this incident,” said SFPD Public Information Officer Katheryn Winters on Monday. “This is an an ongoing investigation which is being handled by the California Highway Patrol and the San Francisco Police Department Special Investigations Division.”

Senator Wiener, meanwhile, avoided his home and told the media that this wasn’t the first time he had credible threats launched against him. Controversial bills, such as SB 145 in 2020 that lowered the penalties for adults who have sex with same-sex minors, brought about similar threats, with his far-left leanings also bringing a lot of negative messages and letters his way since being elected in in 2016. And, as Wiener himself noted, his Jewish background and gay sexual orientation have only compounded this.

“Been getting lots of check-ins about the death threat we received yesterday. I truly appreciate it,” Senator Wiener tweeted Monday. “I receive lots of death threats & have for years. They’re mostly about our civil rights work for LGBTQ people & people with HIV. I’ll keep fighting, death threats notwithstanding.”

Been getting lots of check-ins about the death threat we received yesterday. I truly appreciate it.

I receive lots of death threats & have for years. They’re mostly about our civil rights work for LGBTQ people & people with HIV.

I’ll keep fighting, death threats notwithstanding

— Senator Scott Wiener (@Scott_Wiener) June 13, 2022

However, as he noted on Sunday, it had never gotten this bad before, to the extent that he had to leave his house.

“It’s scary, and definitely a first,” Wiener said late Sunday afternoon in response to the bomb threat. “I couldn’t go home for a few hours until the bomb-sniffing dogs left.”

While much is still unknown about the incident, such as who sent the threat and just how close an attack on the Senator was, experts noted that the response was justified.

“Death threats against lawmakers have been on the rise,” explained Walter Scott, a historian who specializes in assassinations and assassination attempts, to the Globe on Monday. “We always see these go up during times of uncertainty. For those of us who lived through the Civil Rights era, we saw these tragedies play unfold with alarming frequency. I just say 1968, and most Americans can name two automatically.”

“Just last week we had an attempt on Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Just because we don’t agree with them or their policies doesn’t justify such as extreme action. Don’t like a judge? Depends on the level, but you can vote them out next time, recall them, or elect politicians who won’t pick judges like that in the future. Same goes for a Senator like Wiener. Vote for people who won’t support legislation they back or vote them out, or something like that. There’s a lot of ways in a democracy.”

“But murder, or the threat of murder? It’s just wrong. The person who did this needs to be brought to justice and face the consequences for threatening to kill an elected official.”

As of Monday, the incident is still being investigated by the SFPD and CHP.