FBI investigates maggot incident at DNC ​​hotel breakfast buffet | Democratic National Convention 2024

Chicago police and the FBI are investigating whether saboteurs placed maggots in a breakfast buffet served to delegates at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

Delegates from Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio, Missouri and South Dakota were hit in the suspected attack at the city's Fairmont Hotel on Wednesday morning, local news reported.

“Several unknown female perpetrators reportedly entered a building … and began placing unknown objects on tables containing food,” the Congressional Information Center said in a statement.

“The perpetrators then probably left the area. One victim was treated on site and released. Together with the [Chicago police department]“The FBI in Chicago is assisting with the investigation,” it said.

The unappetizing additions to the breakfast buffet appeared to be maggots, some reports said, while others said they were crickets. The infestation was first reported by WGN.

Indiana delegate Karen Tallian told USA Today that her group came down for breakfast at 6:45 a.m. and “there were two women hiding in the bathroom. They ran out and threw maggots into the breakfast buffet.”

The Fairmont Hotel confirmed that “a group of individuals caused a disruption to a DNC-related breakfast event at our hotel this morning” and hotel staff “immediately took action to clean and disinfect the area so the event could continue without further incident.”

Indiana State Rep. Carolyn Jackson said an hour later, “all the new food was out.”

Last month, maggots and other insects piled up on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's table at the Watergate Hotel in Washington DC as he visited the U.S. Capitol. Some of them appeared to be crickets.

The introduction of maggots – the soft-bodied larvae of many dipterans – is the latest and perhaps least serious attempt to disrupt the four-day Democratic Party convention and presidential campaign.

At least 67 people, including two journalists, were arrested outside the Israeli consulate in Chicago on Tuesday night while protesting for an end to the Gaza war. Chicago Police Commissioner Larry Snelling told reporters on the scene that his officers “did a damn good job tonight keeping the city safe and deterring violent individuals from committing acts of violence.”

On Tuesday, Chicago police and the Secret Service responded to bomb threats at the Omni Chicago Hotel and two other locations. DNC officials said police cleared the locations and no credible threats were found.

“We investigated every single threat yesterday and today we have more coming in,” Secret Service Assistant Special Agent Derek Mayer said at a morning briefing, according to USA Today.