US bomb threats: Joe Biden and Robert De Niro latest Trump critics to receive suspicious packages
Investigators are said to be focusing on the state of Florida in search for suspect behind packages
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Your support makes all the difference.US federal investigators are searching coast to coast for a suspect terrorising a growing list of prominent critics of Donald Trump by sending them bombs – with former vice president Joe Biden and actor Robert De Niro the latest to be targeted.
Two packages for Mr Biden were intercepted in Delaware, the FBI said, while another was received at a building housing a restaurant and production company owned by De Niro in New York City. Investigators said they matched parcels which contained pipe bombs sent to former president Barack Obama and several other Democrats this week.
It is believed that investigators have turned their attention to Florida, with Homeland Security Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen confirming that at least some of the packages were mailed in in the state. “Some of the packages went through the mail. They originated, some of them, from Florida,” she told Fox News. “I am confident that this person or people will be brought to justice.”
The latest discoveries mean that eight vocal critics of Mr Trump have been targeted by at least 10 packages. All were intercepted and there have been no injuries.
At a press conference on Thursday, officials in New York would not discuss possible motives or details on how the packages found their way into the US postal system. Nor would they say why none of the packages had detonated, but they stressed they were still treating them as “live devices”.
“As far as a hoax device, we’re not treating it that way,” said Police Commissioner James O’Neill. The case is being treated as domestic terrorism.
Late on Thursday, the Miami-Dade Police Department’s bomb squad and K-9 unit announced it had helped sweep a US Postal Service facility in Opa-locka, Florida. “This assistance is as a precautionary measure,” the department said.
The series of bomb alerts began on Monday and would spread across locations in New York, the Washington DC area and Florida. A number of them were called pipe bombs.
The first was found in the post box of billionaire businessman George Soros. Packages were also sent to a New York home of Hillary and Bill Clinton and to Mr Obama and Congresswoman Maxine Waters in Washington DC. A second package addressed to California Democrat Ms Waters was found in Los Angeles.
CNN’s New York office was evacuated on Wednesday morning after a package addressed to former CIA director John Brennan was found in its mailroom. In Florida, another package was discovered that was addressed to former attorney general Eric Holder.
The packages are being analysed by the FBI at its laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, with authorities reluctant to go public with more than board patterns.
At least five of the packages, including the one sent to Mr Soros, involved manila envelopes addressed to prominent Trump critics and carried a similar arrangement of labelling and US postage stamps. The Florida address of Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz was listed as the return address of most of the packages.
Investigators were seeking forensic clues left on the unexploded packages and were following other leads. A number of the packages had travelled through the US Postal Service, although at an afternoon press conference it was said none had been seen for at least eight hours.
However, John Miller, the New York Police Department’s deputy commissioner for intelligence and counterterrorism, said that authorities “don’t know” yet if other devices were on the way to being delivered and urged Americans to remain vigilant.
That vigilance was seen in the De Niro case, with NYPD Commissioner Mr O’Neil also praising the retired detective who called the emergency services in the pre-dawn hours on Thursday because the images he was seeing on television resembled a package he had intercepted on its way to the actor.
If you want to see how the day progressed, follow the live blog below
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Attorney General Jeff Sessions is said to be being updated on the latest information regarding the suspicious packages by the FBI right now.
New York City Police Commissioner James O’Neill, FBI Assistant Director William Sweeney and Mayor Bill de Blasio will brief the media on the latest in the package bomb investigation at NYPD Headquarters at 3.30pm local time (8.30pm UK).
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has told CNN some of the packages in his state were hand-delivered and that authorities were scrutinizing security camera videos for signs of the bomber.
Local Delaware authorities have identified the location of the two post office scenes where the packages to Mr Biden were found.
- The 1500 block of Lancaster Avenue in Wilmington, Delaware, according to Wilmington police
- 147 Quigley Blvd. in New Castle, Delaware, according to Delaware State Police.
Here is what we know about the attempted bombings:
A manhunt is underway for the perpetrator behind the packages. Law enforcement authorities are treating the series of bombs as a domestic terror matter and are advising the public to remain vigilant.
The motive is unknown, but the recipients are all prominent targets of right-wing criticism and, in many cases, of Trump himself.
The FBI's counterterrorism division is leading the investigation into the packages and the agency says it's possible additional packages were mailed to other locations.
It is being seen as a matter of domestic terrorism, which is the assumption based on the absence of other information
Attorney General Jeff Sessions has spoken about the bombs and the suspicious packages found over the last several days.
“We condemn the actions that led to these activities in the strongest possible terms,” Mr Sessions said at the Justice Department for an event on combating the opioid crisis this morning. “We’re determined to get to the bottom of it and see that justice is done.”
President Trump believes he is being unfairly linked to the serial package bombing incidents and has no current plans to claim any personal responsibility that his rhetoric has contributed to the attempted attacks, two people who have spoken to him today told CNN.
The president received an update on the latest incidents today. He is telling aides he is confident the authorities will find the suspect or suspects.
Former FBI Director James Comey appeared to criticise President Trump’s leadership following a string of explosive devices mailed to prominent Democrats.
Mr Comey often tweets things aimed at Mr Trump, without naming him.
"Example, whether it be good or bad, has a powerful influence,” Mr Comey tweeted, quoting George Washington.
Here’s the latest from New York, after a security guard alerted authorities about a suspicious device at Robert De Niro’s Manhattan office, via the AP:
Two officials told the Associated Press on Thursday that a person working at the building with a law-enforcement background called police after seeing images of a package bomb sent to CNN and recalling a similar package addressed to Mr De Niro.
Mayor Bill De Blasio said: “Thank God there were no injuries.”
Mr De Blasio said the device removed from Mr De Niro’s office “was very similar to the devices that have located within the last 48 hours” at CNN and locations connected to prominent Democrats.
He said all of them appear to be from the same sender and it’s “clearly an effort to terrorize people politically, to choose people for political purposes and attack them because of their beliefs.”
Mr De Blasio said the device is being examined at an NYPD facility in the Bronx.
Here's video of Sarah Huckabee Sanders defending Donald Trump's rhetoric surrounding the 10 suspicious packages that have been sent to Democrats and many of his political opponents in recent days.
The White House press secretary says the president has "condemned violence in all forms."
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