Bombs sent to Obama, Clintons, others
washington — Police intercepted suspected pipe bombs sent to former US president Barack Obama, former presidential candidate Hillary Clinton, and other high-profile Democrats on Wednesday, in what New York officials described as an act of terrorism.
The CNN bureau in New York also received a device looking like a pipe bomb, leading police to evacuate the building, as did the office of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat. CNN reported that Eric Holder, who was US attorney-general under Obama, was also among those targeted.
“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 told a news conference.
The Capitol Police’s bomb squad was sent to the congressional mail sorting facility in Maryland after a suspicious package was reported by staff there. —
new york — Suspicious packages, identified as potential explosives, addressed to former president Barack Obama and defeated presidential nominee Hillary Clinton have been intercepted by the Secret Service, officials said on Wednesday.
The Secret Service said it recovered a single package addressed to Clinton in Westchester, a suburb north of Manhattan on Tuesday, and a second package addressed to the Obama residence in Washington on Wednesday.
Both Democrats remain two of the most high-profile political figures in the United States, which goes to the polls on November 6 in key midterm elections seen as a referendum on Republican President Donald Trump.
The White House swiftly condemned what it called “despicable” acts targeting the two Democrat luminaries.
“The packages were immediately identified during routine mail screening procedures as potential explosive devices and were appropriately handled as such,” the Secret Service said in a statement.
“The protectees did not receive the packages nor were they at risk of receiving them.” The Secret Service, which provides protection to current and former US presidents
and their families — Hillary is the wife of former president Bill Clinton — said it had initiated a “full scope criminal investigation.”
The investigation would “leverage all available federal, state, and local resources” to determine the source of the packages and identify
The packages were immediately identified during routine mail screening procedures as potential explosive devices and were appropriately handled as such
US Secret Service
those responsible, it said. It was not immediately clear whether Clinton or Obama, who has kept a family base in Washington after leaving office so that his youngest daughter can finish high school, were at home when the packages were found. The FBI’s field office in New York said it was “aware” of a suspicious package found in the vicinity” of Clinton’s home in Chappaqua and that its Joint Terrorism Task Force was investigating.
The incidents come just days after an explosive device found in the mailbox at the New York home of US billionaire and liberal donor George Soros, a target of right-wing groups.