Texas Rep. O’Rourke reportedly received threats from suspect
AUSTIN, TEXAS » The Florida man who allegedly sent pipe bombs to President Donald Trump’s critics also had Texas Rep. Beto O’Rourke and at least one other Texas lawmaker in his sights. O’Rourke received several threatening Facebook messages from pipe bomb suspect Cesar Sayoc earlier this year, campaign spokesman Chris Evans confirmed to The Dallas Morning News. Then, on Oct. 25, Evans said the FBI began sending dogs and agents to go through mail at O’Rourke’s campaign office in El Paso. At a campaign stop in Austin on Wednesday, O’Rourke said he felt safe despite the threats.
“We have got to continue to do our best to be good to one another, to try lead by example,” he said. “I feel safe in this state. I feel like we do right and good by one another when given the chance. And we’re going to continue to do that. And in fact, Texas is going to set the example for the rest of the country. This is how we bring the country together. Not perfectly. We don’t get it right all the time. But we do a pretty good job.”
Sayoc also researched mailing addresses for Rep. Poncho Nevarez, a Democrat who represents parts of Texas along the U.S.-Mexico border, he told the Morning News. This week, a suspicious package was sent to Nevarez’s Capitol office, spurring a brief evacuation
The Morning News reached out to the O’Rourke campaign and Nevarez after learning that Sayoc might have targeted them. The local FBI field office who spoke to Nevarez referred the newspaper to the national office, which did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Sayoc was arrested last week after fingerprint and DNA evidence tied him to pipe bombs sent through the mail to several prominent Democrats and CNN’s New York offices. He’s been charged with five federal crimes, including illegal mailing of explosives and threats against a former president.
The suspect also kept a “hit list” of around 100 people and places he considered future targets, The Associated Press has reported, including The New York Times and one of its editors.