| The final report as of 10:09 ET last night, giving us a place to add today’s revelations, which hopefully will include the identity and purpose of the miscreant. Yesterday’s post on the George Soros bomb can be seen here; the post on the rest of the bombs found yesterday can be seen here. |
Federal officials later found similarly packaged explosives addressed to Mr. Obama’s Washington, D.C., residence and sent to CNN’s headquarters and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s Florida office. Two suspicious packages addressed to Rep. Maxine Waters of California were also intercepted.
Officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation released a photo of one of the packages, saying they were mailed in envelopes with a Bubble Wrap interior. Computer-printed address labels and six U.S. Postal Service stamps, some depicting the U.S. flag, were affixed to the front. All had a return address for “Debbie Wasserman Shultz,” with her last name misspelled.
Investigators believe the packages came from the same individual or individuals, officials said. As of Wednesday evening, law-enforcement officials said they hadn’t identified any suspects. A federal official described all the devices—none of which exploded—as “very similar in style,” potentially effective but “not sophisticated.”
The packages were similar to one found Monday in the mailbox of the Westchester County, N.Y., home of billionaire philanthropist George Soros, a prominent liberal donor, officials said. Authorities detonated that device and the evidence was sent to an FBI laboratory in Virginia, where all the devices are being analyzed.
The string of mail bombs led to tightened security around Washington, D.C., and New York City. It also drew widespread condemnation from both political parties two weeks ahead of the midterm elections.
The Secret Service said it had initiated a criminal investigation into the packages sent to Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton, both of whom receive Secret Service protection. Mr. Obama is protected as a former president, and Mrs. Clinton remains under protection as a former first lady.
Bombing incidents remain relatively uncommon in the U.S. falling 24% to 335 incidents last year from the year before, according to federal data.
The FBI said it was working with other law enforcement agencies. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which has technical expertise on such matters, is also part of the investigation as is the Joint Terrorism Task Force.
On Tuesday night, the Secret Service recovered a single package containing an explosive device at a checkpoint outside the Chappaqua, N.Y., home of Bill and Hillary Clinton. The package was addressed to her, according to the Secret Service.
Secret Service agents then discovered another package addressed to Mr. Obama early Wednesday in Washington, D.C.
Both packages were identified during mail-screen procedures, and neither reached Mr. Obama or Mrs. Clinton.
The New York Police Department then warned businesses, urging security and mailroom staff to be on the lookout for suspicious packages, according to a senior law-enforcement official. The NYPD said that the suspicious packages might contain protruding wires, excessive or missing postage stamps, strange odors and oily stains on wrappers.
NYPD officials were in the CNN mailroom in Manhattan’s Time Warner Center advising staff on the warning signs when they found a package addressed to John Brennan, director of the Central Intelligence Agency under Mr. Obama. The package contained a pipe-bomb and white powder, according to Police Commissioner James O’Neill.
It wasn’t clear why the device found at CNN was addressed to Mr. Brennan.
Wednesday morning, bomb squads were dispatched to the Sunrise, Fla., office of Ms. Wasserman Schultz, a former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. A pipe bomb was found there in a package addressed to former Attorney General Eric Holder, who worked for the Obama administration, the FBI said.
The package didn’t reach its intended address, and was rerouted to Ms. Wasserman Schultz’s office, which was given as the return address, the FBI said.
A suspicious package intended for Ms. Waters in Washington was intercepted at a congressional mail facility in Maryland, the lawmaker said Wednesday. The FBI later confirmed it was also investigating a second package addressed to the lawmaker.
| The Telegraph is liveblogging events here. Update at 10:00a.m. EDT: My apologies — they were only liveblogging yesterday. Today they report only an article from noon Greenwich time reporting that former vice president Joe Biden and Robert DeNiro’s New York city restaurant were sent bombs. The Daily Mail started a new article on the story last night at 9:23 EDT: |
[DailyMail]
- Delaware police conduct sweep of Biden's 7,000 square foot home in Greenville
- Authorities believe that the package may still be in the mail system because it was misaddressed
- Meanwhile, a second suspicious package was sent to California Rep. Waters
- The package forced the evacuation of a mall outside Los Angeles
- The crude devices were made of PVC tubing attached to a digital clock available for purchase on Amazon and included sulfur as explosives and shards of glass as shrapnel
This is a boom, not boom, update. Adam Housley says a federal official told him the bombs were complete fakes.
From fed source: “complete hoaxes” multiple wires when they only needed one. Reports of cell phones being involved was false. So no intention of harm. Now the questions. Dry run, or a false flag from the right or left trying to mess over the other side?Now, we have to be careful because this is complete contradiction to what was reported before:
— Adam Housley (@adamhousley) October 24, 2018
Wow. That would be a huge.
Packages to Soros, Obamas, Clintons, Brennan c/o CNN, Holder -- these devices, per law enforcement sources, were rudimentary but functional.We should know pretty soon if they were real or not, which would make a big difference as to motivation, and what the attacks mean for the election….
Meaning the intent here was mass murder.
— Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) October 24, 2018
Breaking: FBI says explosive devices “rudimentary but functional”, at least one included projectiles.
— Jim Sciutto (@jimsciutto) October 24, 2018
[H/T: Crazy Korean lady on the podcast]
UPDATE: Just to be clear, I changed the headline to reporter, because Adam Housley is a former Fox News reporter, not a current one. I apologize for the mistake.
