https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/24/nyre ... evice.htmlPipe Bombs Sent to Clintons, Obama and CNN Offices
Pipe bombs were sent to former President Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, as well as to CNN’s offices in New York, sparking an intense investigation on Wednesday into whether a bomber is going after targets that have often been the subject of right-wing ire.
A law enforcement official said the three devices were similar to one found Monday at the home of George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist and liberal donor.
None of the devices harmed anyone. Law enforcement officials said they were investigating whether all the devices were sent by the same person or persons. [No, it's probably just a remarkable coincidence]
Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Obama, Mr. Soros and CNN have all figured prominently in conservative political attacks — many of which have been led by President Trump. He has often referred to major news organizations as “the enemy of the people,” and has had a particular animus for CNN.
The device sent to CNN was in a manila envelope addressed to John Brennan, who was the C.I.A. director in the Obama administration and is a harsh critic of Mr. Trump. The president revoked Mr. Brennan’s security clearance in what was seen as an act of retribution.
The return address bore the name of Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida congresswoman and a former Democratic National Committee chairwoman, according to a person who saw a photograph of the envelope. The device sent to Mr. Soros was in a similar envelope also with a printed return address label with her name.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo said at a news conference that his office in Manhattan had also received a device, but it was not immediately clear if it was related to the other three devices. [Apparently whoever has been doing this this also tried to send one to Eric Holder, but got the address wrong.]
In a statement, the White House condemned “the attempted violent attacks.”
“These terrorizing acts are despicable, and anyone responsible will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” the statement 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.”
The first inkling that there might be a serial bomber came Wednesday morning when the Secret Service revealed that it had “intercepted two suspicious packages addressed to Secret Service protectees,” who were Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama.
The device addressed to Mrs. Clinton in Westchester County, north of New York City, was found late on Tuesday by a Secret Service employee who screens mail for her, the statement said. The package addressed to Mr. Obama was intercepted early on Wednesday by Secret Service personnel in Washington.
Shortly after the Secret Service made that announcement, the Time Warner Center, a major office complex in Midtown Manhattan, was evacuated after a similar device was discovered to have been sent to CNN’s offices there.
A senior law enforcement official in New York, describing the device sent to CNN, said the device intercepted in CNN’s basement mailroom resembled the others: “Same package. Same device.”
That device sent to CNN was constructed from a length of pipe a little longer than six inches and wrapped in black tape with what appeared to be epoxy on the ends, according to a person who had seen a photograph of it. What could be a timer was attached to the side of the pipe and wires were visible at both ends. Like the bomb sent to Mr. Soros’s home, the envelope it arrived in was roughly 5-by-8 inches and had a printed white address label and half a dozen first-class postage stamps affixed to the outside.
On Wednesday afternoon, New York City’s police commissioner, James P. O’Neill, said the CNN bomb was “a live explosive device.” [so these are not fake bombs being sent]The package that contained the device also included white powder that the police were testing to determine if it is toxic.
While the investigation is in its earliest stages, the recovery on Wednesday of three of the devices and the envelopes that contained them could potentially provide federal agents with a trove of leads and evidence. It could allow them to assess the sophistication of, and care taken, by the person or persons who built and mailed the bombs.
Bomb technicians will likely seek to defuse the devices and try to determine where their components were purchased or the bombs were made.
Evidence technicians will try and recover possible traces of DNA and fingerprints from the components and the envelopes that contained the bombs.
Federal agents with the United States Postal Inspection Service will likely play an important role in the investigation, examining the postage and postmarks. If they can determine where they were mailed from, investigators will examine surveillance video at post offices and around blue letter boxes where the packages may have been deposited.
There may still be more of these out there (while I was preparing this post, I heard a report on CNN that another one of these pipe bombs had been found at a postal transit location in Maryland that handles mail bound for Congressional offices)
The White House has for the moment issued an appropriate statement, but I don't suspect it will be long before Trump starts claiming that the Democrats themselves sent these packages...
