Pennsylvania Lawmakers React After Suspicious Devices Sent to Clintons, Obamas, CNN Offices
Follow KDKA-TV: Facebook | Twitter
By Karl de Vries, Evan Perez and Shimon Prokupecz, CNN
(KDKA/CNN) -- Authorities have intercepted suspicious devices intended for former President Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, and several other top political figures were targeted in what authorities are investigating as a connected series of incidents.
Also, CNN's New York bureau in the Time Warner Center was evacuated after a package with an explosive device, addressed to former CIA Director John Brennan, was discovered, city and local law enforcement officials said.
In addition, sources told CNN that a suspicious package intended for California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters was intercepted at a congressional mail screening facility in Maryland; New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo received what he said was a device at his Manhattan office; and the San Diego Union-Tribune evacuated its building after "suspicious looking packages" were spotted outside.
The developments, which unfolded rapidly and continued steadily into the afternoon, touched off fear and confusion and immediately invited questions about the motives of those responsible. The recipients of the packages are all prominent targets of right-wing criticism and, in many cases, of President Donald Trump himself.
"This clearly is an act of terror attempting to undermine our free press and leaders of this country through acts of violence," New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said at an afternoon news conference.
Democratic Sen. Bob Casey, of Pennsylvania, issued the following statement about the packages:
"I'm thankful to law enforcement who responded quickly when the explosives were discovered. Whoever has engaged in these violent acts must be held fully accountable. Our staff in DC and in the state remain vigilant when handing postal mail and continue to follow our standard protocols for mail and deliveries."
Republican Sen. Pat Toomey, of Pennsylvania, issued this statement through Twitter:
Today's attempted acts of domestic terrorism are unconscionable. Political violence of any sort is unacceptable, period. I'm grateful to those who stopped the attacks before they could be carried out, & that no one was harmed. The perpetrators must be brought to justice.
— Senator Pat Toomey (@SenToomey) October 24, 2018
Pennsylvania Congressman Keith Rothfus issued a statement following the discovery of the packages saying:
"It is abhorrent and reprehensible to target anyone, including our elected officials or media, with violence," said Congressman Rothfus. "This is not what we stand for as a nation. This is terrorism, plain and simple. America stands as a bastion of free thought and conversation, and we will not be swayed by violence, intimidation, or fear. I pray that the long arm of the law swiftly apprehends the person or persons responsible for these heinous crimes."
CNN, citing a law enforcement official, was initially told a suspicious package containing a pipe bomb that was addressed to the White House was intercepted at Joint Base Bolling in Washington, DC. The Secret Service, however, later said it had only intercepted the two packages intended for Obama and Clinton and called reports of a package headed for the White House "incorrect."
Trump says 'no resources' will be spared
Trump vowed Wednesday afternoon that "the full weight of our government is being deployed to conduct this investigation."
"We will spare no resources or expense in this effort," Trump said at the top of his remarks at a White House opioid bill signing event. He said he had just concluded a briefing with the FBI, Department of Justice, Homeland Security Department and Secret Service.
The President -- who has recently taken to calling his political opponents "evil" -- called for unity in his remarks and said "we have to come together and send one very clear, strong, unmistakable message that threats or acts of political violence have no place in the United States of America."
"This egregious conduct is abhorrent to everything we hold dear and sacred as Americans," Trump said, adding, "We are extremely angry, upset, unhappy about what we witnessed this morning, and we will get to the bottom of it."
His remarks were greeted with a standing ovation in the room.
Devices appear to be similarly constructed
Bryan Paamann, an FBI special agent in charge of the counterterrorism division in New York, said the devices appeared to be pipe bombs. A law enforcement official told CNN that the initial examination of all of the devices shows them to be constructed similarly. At least one of the devices appeared to contain projectiles, including shards of glass. The devices are rudimentary but functional.
A law enforcement source said the device found in the Time Warner Center's mailroom is similar to the ones addressed to Obama, Clinton and billionaire investor and major Democratic donor George Soros, which was discovered earlier this week. The package was delivered by courier, law enforcement sources said.
A suspicious package sent to the Florida office of Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz was intended for former Attorney General Eric Holder but had the wrong address, two law enforcement sources said. It was returned to the Democratic congresswoman because that was the return label on the package, the sources said, adding that it was the same return address for the packages sent to Obama and Clinton.
There is no information that suggests she sent the packages. The bomb squad was investigating the package discovered at Wasserman Schultz's office, a local police spokesman said. It was not immediately clear if the package contains a device similar to the others detected around the country.
The Soros package also had the return address of Wasserman Schultz, a former party chairwoman, a law enforcement source and a federal source briefed on the investigation said Wednesday. The Soros package was believed to have been placed in a mailbox rather than mailed, a separate law enforcement source said.
Neither Obama nor Clinton received the packages sent to them or were at risk of receiving them, the Secret Service said. They were discovered during "routine mail screening procedures as potential explosive devices and were appropriately handled as such," the agency said in a statement.
The package intended for Obama was intercepted in Washington, DC, and the one intended for Clinton was addressed to her in Chappaqua residence in Westchester County, New York, on Tuesday, authorities said.
Speaking in Florida early Wednesday afternoon to campaign for Democrat Donna Shalala's congressional bid, Clinton said she and her husband, former President Bill Clinton, were "fine" and praised the response by the Secret Service.
"It is a troubling time, isn't it? And it's a time of deep divisions, and we have to do everything we can to bring our country together," Clinton said.
The San Diego office of Sen. Kamala Harris, D-California, was also evacuated after "suspicious packages" were found near the building, but they were not addressed to the senator or her office, a spokeswoman tweeted.
New York device investigated
The device sent to the Time Warner Center was a "live explosive device," NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill said at an afternoon news conference, adding that police were also investigating an envelope containing white powder that was found as part of the "original packaging" of the device.
The package was removed from the building late Wednesday morning and was sent to an NYPD facility in the Bronx, a law enforcement official said.
At the news conference, Cuomo disclosed that a device was sent to his Manhattan office and that it was being handled. An NYPD official later told CNN that the device was simply an informational package containing literature.
"There's a number of devices and there's a pattern apparently with them," he said.
The NYPD increased patrols at media locations in the city and other potential areas, a spokesman for the department said. Officials from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives are at the sites of the multiple packages and were at Soros' Bedford, New York, home on Tuesday, a spokeswoman said. The FBI also is involved in the investigation, the bureau said.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
The-CNN-Wire
™ & © 2018 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved.