Suspicious pack to CNN intercepted at post office

Washington, Oct. 29: A suspicious package addressed to CNN was intercepted Monday at an Atlanta post office, the head of the cable news network said in a statement.

If it is found to contain an explosive device, it would be the 15th mail bomb — and the third to CNN — of a wave addressed to prominent Democrats and critics of US President Donald Trump, allegedly by a Trump supporter in Florida.

“This morning, another suspicious package addressed to CNN was intercepted at an Atlanta post office,” CNN Worldwide president Jeff Zucker said in a statement.

“There is no imminent danger at CNN Center,” he said in a message to employees that was also posted on Twitter.

Since last Wednesday, all mail to CNN’s US offices has been screened at an off- site location, he said, “so this package would not have come directly to the CNN Center, even if it hadn’t been intercepted first.”

Cesar Sayoc, 56, who was arrested on Friday, was due to be arraigned in Florida Monday on charges of mailing 13 pipe bombs and authorities had cautioned that more might be in circulation.

Sayoc was an ardent Trump supporter whom acquaintances said had extremist views and who lived in a van covered in pro- Trump and anti- liberal stickers.

Among those targeted with mail bombs were former president Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton, Mr Trump’s Democratic rival for the presidency in the 2016 election.