UPDATE: A Florida man in his 50’s was taken into custody Friday and will be charged in connection with the series of bombs found this week addressed to critics of President Donald Trump.
October 26, 2018 The FBI confirmed another suspicious package was recovered in Florida on Friday morning. The latest package, addressed to New Jersey Democratic Senator Cory Booker was recovered in Florida and is similar in appearance to the other ones received in the last week. Police in New York City are investigating another suspicious package at a post office addressed to former Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper.
A total of 12 packages containing potentially explosive devices addressed to outspoken critics of Donald Trump have been discovered in recent days. On Thursday, two former vice president Joe Biden were intercepted at a Delaware mail facility. Another explosive device addressed to actor Robert De Niro was also discovered. All of the previous ten packages went through the US mail, according to multiple law enforcement officials familiar with the investigation.
New York City mayor Bill De Blasio at a press conference on Wednesday said that pipe bombs addressed to Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and CNN in New York City are clearly acts of terror attempting to undermine our free press and leaders of this country through acts of violence.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement Wednesday:
“This investigation is of the highest priority for the FBI. We have committed the full strength of the FBI’s resources and, together with our partners on our Joint Terrorism Task Forces, we will continue to work to identify and arrest whoever is responsible for sending these packages.”
The FBI warned later on Wednesday that other packages could have been sent to other locations after two devices addressed to Rep. Maxine Waters were intercepted and asked people to remain vigilant and avoid touching, moving or handling suspicious packages.
President Trump condemned the threats on Wednesday afternoon calling for the country to unify and said acts or threats of political violence of any kind have no place in the United States of America. However, since then Trump has repeatedly blamed the media and others for incivility. On Friday morning, Trump tweeted:
“Funny how lowly rated CNN, and others, can criticize me at will, even blaming me for the current spate of Bombs and ridiculously comparing this to September 11th and the Oklahoma City bombing, yet when I criticize them they go wild and scream, “it’s just not Presidential!”
Most Americans remember the 2001 anthrax attacks just days after 9/11. However, using the mail or other services to deliver to carry out acts of terror is nothing new. In 1919, U.S. Postal Service workers intercepted 36 mail bombs targeting prominent people that had been mailed across the nation. One of the bombs delivered to the home of a US senator from Georgia exploded and injuring the senator’s nurse. Beginning in the late 1970’s until the early 1990’s Ted Kaczynski, dubbed the “UNAbomber” killed three and injured 23 in a series of mail bombings in the United States