Race is on to find ‘despicable’ bomber
Detectives look for clues as Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and CNN targeted with ‘terror’ packages
Ben Riley-smith and
Rozina Sabur in Washington
Harriet Alexander in New York POLICE in the United States are on the hunt for a serial bomber after suspicious packages were sent to leading Democrats including Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton.
The basic explosive devices, described as “pipe bombs”, were also sent to the New York headquarters of broadcaster CNN and the offices of political figures in California and Florida.
It follows the discovery on Monday of a similar device at the New York state residence of George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist and prominent donor to liberal causes.
Investigators do not know if an individual or a group is behind the campaign which has been dubbed “an act of terrorism”.
President Donald Trump last night issued a call for unity as he condemned the “despicable acts” and said the “full weights of our government” were being deployed to find those responsible.
Mr Trump said: “In these times, we have to unify, we have to come together, and send one very clear, strong, unmistakable message, that acts or threats of political violence of any kind have no place in the United States of America.”
He added: “We are extremely angry, upset, unhappy about what we witnessed this morning and we will get to the bottom of it.”
The package addressed to Hillary and Bill Clinton in Westchester County, New York, was found on Tuesday. Then, yesterday morning, a similar device was found addressed to Barack and Michelle Obama in Washington DC.
The US Secret Service said officers had detected the suspect devices during routine screening of mail and before they reached their targets.
A third “live explosive device” sent to CNN’S New York newsroom was addressed to John Brennan, the for- mer CIA director, security officials said.
Meanwhile, Democrat senator Kamala Harris’s San Diego office and the Florida office of the former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, also had to be evacuated after suspicious packages were found.
The attempted attacks on Left-leaning figures come just two weeks before the midterm Congressional elections.
Following the discovery of the device sent to the Clintons, Mrs Clinton said: “It is a troubling time. It is a time of deep divisions. We have to do everything we can to bring our country together.”
Bill De Blasio, the New York Mayor, said yesterday: “What we saw here today was an effort to terrorise. This clearly is an act of terror attempting to undermine our free press and leaders of this country through acts of violence.
“I want to make clear that the people of New York City will not be intimidated,” he said.
“You cannot be terrorised if you refuse to allow the terrorists to win. People of this city have shown time and again that they stand up to attempts to intimidate.”