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Suspected explosives sent to Obama, Clinton, CNN
NEW YORK, Oct 24, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – Suspected explosive devices were sent
to former president Barack Obama, defeated presidential nominee Hillary
Clinton and to a building housing CNN’s New York bureau less than 24 hours
apart and less than two weeks before key US midterm elections, officials
confirmed Wednesday.
The targeted Democrats are among the most high-profile political figures
in the United States, which goes to the polls on November 6 in elections seen
as a referendum on Republican President Donald Trump.
CNN has distinguished itself in the last two years for its aggressive
coverage of the Trump administration and robust criticism of the Republican,
who replaced Obama and defeated Clinton in the 2016 election.
The Secret Service recovered a package addressed to Clinton in
Westchester, a suburb north of Manhattan on Tuesday, and a second package
addressed to the Obama residence in Washington on Wednesday.
CNN evacuated its New York bureau Wednesday after a suspicious device,
which police described as a metal pipe with wires, was found in the mailroom
of the Time Warner Center.
The White House swiftly condemned what it called “despicable” acts
targeting the two Democrat luminaries.
“These terrorizing acts are despicable, and anyone responsible will be
held accountable to the fullest extent of the law,” said Press Secretary
Sarah Sanders. “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.”
– Metal pipe with wires –
The precise contents of the suspicious packages sent to Clinton and Obama
were not immediately clear. There has been no claim of responsibility and no
one was yet thought to have been arrested.
The Secret Service said the packages were “immediately identified during
routine mail screening procedures as potential explosive devices and were
appropriately handled as such.”
“The protectees did not receive the packages nor were they at risk of
receiving them,” it added.
MORE/FI/2204 hrs
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New York police confirmed to AFP that its officers had been called to the
Time Warner Center, where the CNN bureau in the US financial capital is
located, to investigate reports of a suspicious package.
Police later identified the CNN package as a “suspicious device described
as a metal pipe with wires,” and confirmed that its emergency service unit
and bomb squad were on the scene, in a crowded part of Midtown Manhattan.
The Secret Service, which provides protection to current and former US
presidents and their families — Clinton is the wife of former president Bill
Clinton — said it had initiated a “full scope criminal investigation.”
The investigation would “leverage all available federal, state, and local
resources” to determine the source of the packages and identify those
responsible, it said.
It was not immediately clear whether Clinton or Obama, who has kept a
family base in Washington after leaving office so that his youngest daughter
can finish high school, were at home when the packages were found.
The FBI’s field office in New York said it was “aware” of a suspicious
package found in the vicinity” of Clinton’s home in Chappaqua and that its
Joint Terrorism Task Force was investigating.
– Target for right-wingers –
The incidents come just days after an explosive device was found in the
mailbox at the New York home of US billionaire and liberal donor George
Soros, a target of right-wing groups.
An employee of the residence in Bedford, New York, an ultra-wealthy
enclave not far from the Clintons’ home in Westchester County, found the
package in the mailbox on Monday. It was later defused by bomb squad
technicians.
The New York Times reported that the latest packages were all similar to
that found at the Soros estate.
Born in Hungary, the 88-year-old hedge fund tycoon is one of the world’s
richest men with an estimated net worth of $8.3 billion and a prominent
philanthropist who has become a hate figure for right-wing groups.
Soros supported Clinton, Trump’s rival in the 2016 US presidential
election, and has been accused by nationalists the world over of sponsoring
protests and seeking to push a liberal, multicultural agenda.
His Open Society Foundations on Tuesday condemned the “hateful rhetoric
that dominates politics in the United States and so many countries around the
world,” noting it “breeds extremism and violence.
“In this climate of fear, falsehoods, and rising authoritarianism, just
voicing your views can draw death threats,” it said.
Earlier this month, Trump accused Soros of paying demonstrators to protest
against the nomination of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was
accused of attempted rape in high school.
Soros has also been falsely accused of funding the caravan of migrants
moving north from Honduras through Mexico en route to the US border.
BSS/AFP/FI/2205 hrs