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Explosive devices mailed to Clintons, President Obama, CNN, and several others

Authorities believe all the packages may have been sent by the same individual or group.

An explosive device was discovered to have been mailed to the Chappaqua home of Hillary Clinton and President Bill Clinton Wednesday. Officials said a similar device was also sent to President Barack Obama's office. A fourth was discovered in the mailroom of the Time Warner Center in New York, where CNN's offices are located. (PHOTO CREDIT: Lester Cohen/Getty Images for NARAS; Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
An explosive device was discovered to have been mailed to the Chappaqua home of Hillary Clinton and President Bill Clinton Wednesday. Officials said a similar device was also sent to President Barack Obama's office. A fourth was discovered in the mailroom of the Time Warner Center in New York, where CNN's offices are located. (PHOTO CREDIT: Lester Cohen/Getty Images for NARAS; Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Multiple explosive devices were mailed to prominent liberals, as well as the offices of CNN in New York City, on Wednesday, sparking a series of evacuations and a sprawling law enforcement investigation.

On Wednesday morning, the Secret Service intercepted an explosive device addressed to the Chappaqua, New York home of Hillary Clinton and President Bill Clinton, as well as the office of former President Barack Obama. The attempted attacks occurred barely 48 hours after liberal philanthropist George Soros was targeted with an explosive device.

A few hours later, the CNN office at the Time Warner Center in New York was evacuated after it received its own suspicious package. According to CNN, the device was specifically addressed to former CIA director and MSNBC contributor John Brennan, and contained shards of glass. According to law enforcement sources the devices resembled a rudimentary pipe bomb. The device was reportedly mailed in a manila envelope with a return address belonging to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL), who previously served as the chair of the Democratic National Committee.

A suspicious package was later discovered at Wasserman Schultz’s the Sunrise, Florida office, after being “misaddressed” to Obama’s former Attorney General Eric Holder. According to The New York Times, the package was ultimately sent back to Wasserman Schultz’s district office, per the return address.

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A seventh device was intercepted at a sorting facility in Maryland that handles all mail delivered to Congressional offices and was reportedly bound for the offices of Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA).

Rumors of another device, addressed to the White House and reportedly intercepted at Joint Base Bolling in Washington, D.C., later turned out to be false.

During a joint press conference on Wednesday afternoon, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio stressed that there were no specific threats against other New York City targets, but said there would be a beefed-up police presence at major media outlets and key city locations nonetheless. According to MSNBC, authorities are working under the assumption that the devices were all sent by the same individual or individuals.

Both de Blasio and Gov. Cuomo referred to the incident as terrorism.

“What we saw here today was an effort to terrorize, attempting to undermine our free press and leaders of this country through acts of violence,” de Blasio said during the press conference. “We’re going to go about our lives undeterred because the very concept of terrorism is to terrorize and we will not allow that to happen.”

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According to FBI Special Agent in Charge Bryan Paarmann, an envelope containing white powder was also discovered at CNN headquarters. He added that, because of the earlier bombs discovered at the Clinton and Soros residences, NYPD officials reached out to various media outlets and elected officials to warn them. Officers were actually in the CNN mail room teaching employees what to look out for when the device there was discovered.

None of the devices sent to the Clintons, Soros, or Obama got anywhere near their intended target. The devices sent to the Clintons and Soros were discovered by employees screening all mail, while the Secret Service intercepted the package addressed to Obama. Agents have since launched a full criminal investigation.

“The packages were immediately identified during routine mail screening procedures as potential explosive devices,” a Secret Service statement read. “The protectees did not receive the packages nor were they at risk of receiving them.”

The White House said in a statement Wednesday that it condemned the attempted attacks.

“These terrorizing acts are despicable, and anyone responsible will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said. “The United States Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies are investigating and will take all appropriate actions to protect anyone threatened by these cowards.”

President Trump, however, has yet to make a full statement, apart from retweeting Vice President Mike Pence and saying that he “agree[s] wholeheartedly” with Pence’s statement.

A short while earlier, Pence had tweeted that the attacks were “cowardly” and “despicable.”

Soros, the first recipient of an explosive device, has long been the subject of right-wing conspiracy theorists, who claim his liberal philanthropy is cover for any number of nefarious deeds. Last week, several right-wing figureheads, including Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) and Dinesh D’Souza, suggested that Soros was funding the migrant caravan proceeding toward the U.S.-Mexico border.

The Clintons often make an appearance in these conspiracies as well, most notably in the case of Q-Anon.

As of yet, it is unclear who is behind the attempted attacks.


UPDATE (10/24/18): It was initially reported that devices were also mailed to the offices of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo and the offices of the San Diego Union-Tribune. The package sent to Cuomo’s office later turned out to be a thumb drive containing information about the far-right group The Proud Boys. The packages left at the offices of the Union-Tribune were found to be an assortment of random items.


UPDATE (10/25/18): Law enforcement officials said Thursday that at least two more pipe bombs were intercepted this week, one addressed to former Vice President Joe Biden and another to actor Robert De Niro.

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The bomb sent to Biden was first intercepted at a U.S. postal service facility in Delaware. It was misaddressed, similar to the one sent to Eric Holder, and its return address was listed as belonging to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL).

The device sent to De Niro was similar to those sent to President Obama and Hillary Clinton and initially discovered by security personnel at TriBeCa Productions, the film company De Niro helped co-found in 1989.