Bomb found in mailbox of Soros home in New York
NEW YORK — A bomb was found in a mailbox at the suburban New York home of George Soros, the liberal billionaire philanthropist who has been denounced by President Donald Trump, authorities said Tuesday.
Federal agents safely detonated the device after being summoned Monday by a security officer at the wooded compound, about 50 miles north of Manhattan.
The 88-year-old Soros was not home at the time.
Laura Silber, a spokeswoman for Soros’ Open Society Foundations, blamed the country’s political environment.
In recent days and weeks, Soros has been accused of being the hidden hand behind some of the opposition to Brett Kavanaugh’s Supreme Court nomination and helping to create the caravan of Central Americans making their way toward the United States.
“The hateful rhetoric that dominates politics in the U.S. and in so many countries around the world breeds extremism and violence,” Silber said in a statement.
The FBI confirmed it was involved in an investigation but declined to comment. The New York Police Department said that as a precaution, it was sending counterterrorism officers to all Soros-connected sites in the city.
Federal investigators were reviewing surveillance video to determine whether the package containing the bomb had been sent through the mail or delivered some other way, officials said.
A federal law enforcement official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the investigation said the device contained explosive powder.
Another federal official who also spoke on condition of anonymity said it appeared to be a pipe bomb and was in a package placed in a mailbox outside the gates of the compound.