‘Acts of terror’: pipe bombs sent to Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, other top Democrats and CNN
- The devices sent to Clinton and Obama resembled a bomb sent to George Soros this week
- CNN released an image of what police called a live explosive that was sent to the broadcaster
Pipe bombs mailed to a string of high-profile Democrats - including Hillary Clinton, former president Barack Obama and the office of Democratic Representative Maxine Waters – as well as CNN’s New York newsroom led to a ramping up of security across New York City and Washington on Wednesday.
US President Donald Trump denounced the incidents, which all occurred within 24 hours, as terrorism, although he did not address the fact that all of the affected parties were frequent targets of his own public ire. The live device found at the CNN offices was addressed to ex-CIA Director John Brennan – a frequent guest on the cable news channel and a vocal critic of Trump.
The CNN newsroom on Columbus Circle was evacuated after the NYPD Bomb Squad was called to investigate a “pipe bomb with wires sticking out of it”, sources said. Authorities said an envelope containing an unidentified white power was stuffed inside the CNN package. Police said it contained a live explosive.
ABC News reported a similar package intended for Waters was intercepted Wednesday by Capitol Hill police, while New York Governor Andrew Cuomo said he was also sent a suspicious package.
The return address on some of the packages was the office of Florida Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, head of the Democratic National Party during the last election. Another package landed in her office when the wrong address for ex-Attorney General Eric Holder was written on the plain manila shipping envelope along with her as the return address.
“There are a number of devices and a pattern,” Governor Andrew Cuomo said at a news conference outside the Time Warner Building. “We wouldn’t be surprised if additional devices are sent.”