Bomber hunt has focus on Florida
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 27, 2018 THE hunt for a serial bomber targeting critics of Donald Trump is narrowing in on Florida.
An official said at least some of the packages were sent from the state, as investigators home in on New York and the Sunshine State.
Actor Robert De Niro (pictured) and former US vicepresident Joe Biden are the latest targets to be sent suspicious packages thought to contain pipe bombs.
De Niro’s restaurant, the Tribeca Grill in Manhattan, was evacuated when the package containing explosives was found in the mailroom.
Two other bombs addressed to Barack Obama’s deputy Joe Biden were discovered in Delaware, bringing the total number of devices to 10.
The terrorist has been dubbed “the MAGA bomber” – after Mr Trump’s election campaign slogan “Make America Great Again”.
The latest attempted attacks came after Mr Obama, Hillary and Bill Clinton, and billionaire Democrat donor George Soros were targeted.
Mr Trump has blamed the media for whipping up hatred.
The President wrote on Twitter that the media was responsible for “a very big part of the anger” in society.
He accused the press of “false and inaccurate reporting”, adding: “It has gotten so bad and hateful it is beyond description. Mainstream media must clean up its act, FAST!”
Critics were quick to point out that most of the targets of the bombs have been abused by Mr Trump on Twitter.
John Brennan, the former CIA director whose name was on the bomb sent to news channel CNN in New York, responded: “Stop blaming others. Look in the mirror. Your inflammatory rhetoric, insults, lies and encouragement of physical violence are disgraceful.”
Specialists at the FBI Laboratory in Quantico, Virginia, are analysing the packages amid a nationwide manhunt involving the Joint Terrorism Task Force and hundreds of local police forces. None of the devices has gone off and no one has been injured.
But they reportedly had traces of sulphur in them, which is inherently unstable.
De Niro has frequently been critical of Mr Trump. At the 2018 Tony Awards he received a standing ovation for saying “F... Trump”. Mr Trump responded by calling him a “very low IQ individual”.
A spokesman for the actor called it “extremely disturbing and frightening”.