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Pipe bombs latest: FBI hunts for sender after high-profile Democrats targeted – live
Pipe bombs latest: authorities give update on investigation – live
(35 minutes later)
Maxine Waters, the Democratic member of Congress from California and an intended recipient of two of the bombs, has just spoken out and blamed Donald Trump for stoking violence and accuses him of “dog whistling to his constituency.” More in moments...
Bill de Blasio is up now, saying: “This is absolutely terrorism. Using violence to make a political impact.” But he adds, in characteristic upbeat tone adopted by civic leaders in time’s of tension such as these: “The people in New York City are as tough as it gets.”
Cuomo added that the specific motivation involved in this bombing campaign has not been stated “and we won’t have that until we find the sender”. He reiterated that it is not clear whether the devices were designed actually to detonate or merely to intimidate their intended receiver.
This press conference is taking a typical course. Tiny fragments of new information and a lot of question dodging, as an investigation of this kind proceeds with extreme caution in terms of what the public is told.
Cuomo has now backed up what Reuters was reporting earlier: that investigators believe some of the bombs may have originated in Florida.
NYPD’s Miller admits the authorities “don’t know” if other bombs are out there, perhaps en route to other targets.
Cuomo refrains from commenting on reports that the devices, or some of the devices, may have had digital clocks and small batteries triggering as mechanisms – he says he’ll leave questions about that until the press conference due to be help by law enforcement officials – federal investigators, bomb squad and NYPD – shortly. That’s scheduled in New York for 3.30pm ET.
FBI assistant director William Sweeney refuses to confirm earlier reports that the bombs originated in Florida. He doesn’t deny it, but points out: “We are not going to get into where the packages originated.”
New York governor Andrew Cuomo, speaking on CNN right now, says the bombs could have been built by an amateur, learning their limited expertise from the internet, but adds that “it’s wrong to say, in my opinion, that these are fake bombs”.
The FBI has warned the public, across the US, that “any device found should be considered dangerous.” Officials are moving to press Q & A now.
Someone else instantly tweets: “We love you and Bill! So glad you’re all safe.”
John Miller, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner of intelligence and counter terrorism, says that a retired police officer found the package in lower Manhattan addressed to Robert DeNiro.
If the discourse stayed this polite we would reproduce more of it. However ...
“A retired NYPD detective who was awake and watching the news saw an image of one of these devices and it occurred to him that it resembled a package he had screened that had been sent to Robert DeNiro’s offices on Greenwich Street,” Miller said. The retired officer alerted the authorities.
This being social media, within nanoseconds someone has tweeted back to her: “You mean wasting their time because the left chooses to send suspicious packages to themselves?”
Sweeney is reiterating that the 10 bombs are being analyzed at Quantico, the FBI’s forensics lab in Virginia. He’s also confirmed that white powder in some of the devices, including the one delivered to the CNN offices, does not constitute a biological threat.
Hillary Clinton just tweeted: “I’m grateful for the hard work and commitment of the Secret Service every day, and never more than this week.”
We’ll bring you the rest of Maxine Waters’s statement shortly, but will focus on this press conference for now, including, hopefully a Q & A with journalists after the officials’ statements.
I'm grateful for the hard work and commitment of the Secret Service every day, and never more than this week.
William Sweeney, FBI assistant director, has now taken the podium, following the brief remarks from the mayor. He’s mainly doing the usual opener - thanking all his law enforcement partners, both federal and local.
CNN’s Jake Tapper, citing his colleague Josh Campbell, has just mentioned on Twitter that a law enforcement official said an FBI bomb truck – which was shown in live images this morning being driven away from Robert De Niro’s Manhattan office – is currently en route to the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia. It was reported last night that that was where the other devices had been taken for forensic analysis.
De Blasio continues: “People in this city are not being thrown off their game,” he says. But he acknowledges: “There is a lot of concern, there is a lot of fear.”
A FBI bomb truck left NYC this morning around 10:30am ET and is currently on the road to the FBI lab at Quantico containing the CNN device, a law enforcement official familiar with the investigation told @joshscampbell
New York city major Bill de Blasio takes the podium. He warns New Yorkers to be ready to see an increased police presence - in a city that’s already policed by almost 40,000 cops.
As the Guardian and others have noted, within hours of the news breaking yesterday of explosive devices directed at Barack Obama, Hillary Clintons and others, theories were flying online that the bombs were a hoax perpetrated by liberals upon liberals as a smear exercise as the election cycle reaches crescendo. And Wednesday evening, one Republican political rally attendee was sporting a sign saying: “Democrats fake news fake bombs.”
O’Neill promises that the perpetrator of the bombing campaign will be apprehended, by law enforcement agencies that are “second to none.”
DeSantis supporters carrying signs that say “fake news, fake bombs” outside tonight’s debate. #flgov #flapol pic.twitter.com/XDHpqkraEX
NYPD police commissioner James O’Neill opens by assuring all eight million New York City residents “you are safe”. He then follows with a fresh plea for any information from the public.
Gingrich, who was speaker of the House from 1995 to 1999, himself gained a reputation as one of the most divisive politicians in a generation. The Republican further claimed at the event on Thursday, according to Axios, that the upsettingly toxic political climate is “everyone’s fault” but pointed to a “tribalization” of cable news (shorthand for Fox v CNN and MSNBC). When asked why the right jumped to conspiracy theories almost immediately after news of the bombs broke, he said: “Because it’s October.” That is: less than two weeks to go before election day.
Inevitably, arguments on social media about the veracity of these bombs and their mysterious sender(s) are heated, often highly partisan, personal and can get pretty wild.
Before we go there, if indeed we do, it’s worth mentioning that the Democrats’ old nemesis Newt Gingrich spoke at an Axios event in Washington on Thursday and said that although Trump’s attacks on the mainstream media as the enemy of the people don’t help narrow the American political divide, “they’ve earned it”.
Reuters now further reports, while still citing an unnamed federal law enforcement source, that the investigation into the 10 pipe bombs “is focusing on leads in Florida”. We are also reminded that no person or entity has claimed responsibility for this wave of what appears to be domestic terrorism.
The FBI continues to urge the public to report any tips. The source told the news agency that all 10 of the suspicious packages were believed to have gone through the US Postal Service “at some point”. Authorities describe the devices as “crude”.
Just to add to the atmosphere of tension, Reuters also reports that a building adjacent to the US Capitol, which houses lawmakers’ offices, was evacuated earlier after a fire alarm was triggered.
It was the fire alarm going off in the CNN studio that first alerted the station’s on-air journalists that anything was amiss yesterday. So that must have resulted in sharp intakes of breath at the least among staff in those Washington offices today. Fortunately, the Capitol police announced that the alarm was triggered by an electrical malfunction. Staff were allowed to re-enter after about an hour. Congress is not in session and most politicians are in their home districts energetically campaigning ahead of the midterm elections on 6 November.
Reuters is now reporting that investigators believe all the suspicious packages sent to prominent Democrats went through the US Postal Service and the authorities are focusing intensely on Florida. The news agency cites a law enforcement source. It has yet to flesh out this news “just in” and the Guardian has not yet independently verified this development.
JUST IN: Investigators believe all suspicious packages sent to prominent Democrats went through U.S. Postal Service; investigation focusing on Florida - law enforcement source https://t.co/Mw16Q2VMcF
