Bombs Sent to Democratic Leaders and Critics of Trump From ExPresidents to Civilians Like De Niro
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Police officers in the TriBeCa neighborhood of Manhattan near the scene where a pipe bomb addressed to the actor Robert De Niro was found.CreditCreditDrew Angerer/Getty Images
By William K. Rashbaum, Alan Feuer and Richard Pérez-Peña
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Two additional pipe bombs, one addressed to former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. and the other to actor Robert De Niro were found in Delaware and New York City, law enforcement officials said on Thursday, the latest in a wave of similar devices sent to several prominent Democrats who have been the rhetorical targets of President Trump and other right-wing figures.
A law enforcement official said the envelope and printed address labels on the package sent to Mr. De Niro were similar to those on explosives sent to former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and others, and an X-ray showed it contained a similar device resembling a pipe bomb.
“This appears to be from the same sender,” the official said.
None of the devices have harmed anyone so far, and it was not immediately clear whether they could have actually exploded. It was also uncertain whether they were the work of one person or multiple people.
The United States Postal Service records images of mail that comes into its system. Officials searched those images overnight and found several other suspicious packages, a law enforcement official said. It was not immediately clear how many they discovered.
The device sent to Mr. Biden was found at a U.S. Postal Service facility in Delaware, a law enforcement official said. Similar to the one sent to former Attorney General Eric H. Holder Jr., the envelope was misaddressed and was being redirected to the return sender written on the mailing label, Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Florida congresswoman. Another package was also discovered at the same facility, a law enforcement official said, but it was not immediately known who it was address to.
Security personnel at Mr. De Niro’s company, TriBeCa Productions, discovered the package about 5 a.m. and called the New York Police Department, whose bomb squad responded, officials briefed on the matter said. It was removed about 6:30 a.m. and taken to the Police Department’s range in the Bronx for disposal.
Targets of Potential Explosive Devices
At least nine suspicious packages have been discovered since Monday.
Hillary Clinton
Chappaqua, N.Y.
George Soros
Katonah, N.Y.
John O. Brennan
Robert De Niro
New York City
Joseph R. Biden Jr.
Delaware
Maxine Waters
Barack Obama
Washington
Maxine Waters
Los Angeles
Eric H. Holder Jr.
Debbie Wasserman Schultz
Sunrise, Fla.
A device intended for Mr. Holder was misaddressed and sent to Ms. Wasserman Schultz's office because her name was on the return address. | By Jugal K. Patel and Joe Ward
Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York said Thursday that an “eagle-eyed security employee” at TriBeCa Productions noticed similarities between the package and photos of envelopes that were discovered on Wednesday.
They have featured half-a-dozen first-class postage stamps on manila envelopes lined with Bubble Wrap and bearing return addresses with the name, misspelled, of Ms. Wasserman Schultz, who was once chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee. The mailing labels were computer-printed.
[For a country already on edge, the attempted attacks marked an unsettling turn ahead of the midterm election]
Some packages, including the device delivered to CNN’s offices in New York, arrived by courier, a law enforcement official said. Mr. de Blasio said that the authorities did not know whether that meant the sender of the devices lived in the New York area.
“We certainly don’t know whether they are here or elsewhere in the country” Mr. de Blasio said on CNN on Thursday morning. “There is somebody by definition who is a serial bomber, yes, and a terrorist.”
In anticipation of additional packages being found on Thursday, the Police Department has deployed additional officers outside news media offices and elected official’s offices, Mr. de Blasio said.
Early Thursday, swarm of police vehicles and ambulances on standby choked the streets of the TriBeCa neighborhood just a block from the Hudson River. The police closed off several blocks around the building that houses the film company and Mr. De Niro’s restaurant. Flashing blue and red lights from dozens of patrol cars and SUVs cast a harsh glow on the faces of puzzled commuters arriving for work at the offices of Citibank a block away.
The device sent to former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. was found at a U.S. postal service facility in Delaware, a law enforcement official said.CreditDavid Swanson/The Philadelphia Inquirer, via Associated Press
Mr. De Niro, like the other recipients of packages, has been an outspoken critic of Mr. Trump. During the Tony Awards ceremony in June, he gave a speech in which he attacked the president with an obscenity, and a video of his comments was widely shared on social media.
On Wednesday, President Trump at first denounced the attempted bombings, saying at the White House, “We have to unify.”
[After the bomb scares, President Trump tried bipartisanship, then blamed the media]
A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News. It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!
But at a nighttime rally in Wisconsin, he took a more pointed tone, criticizing the news media and Democrats even as he asked Americans to “come together in peace and harmony.”
And on Thursday morning, the president did not address the bombings directly, he blamed the media on Twitter for the “anger we see today in our society.”
Federal, state and local investigators in New York, Washington, Florida and Los Angeles are involved in the widening case, which has not resulted in any injuries but has sent a shock through the nation’s political and media establishments.
The first bomb was found on Monday at the home of George Soros, the billionaire advocate of liberal causes, in Westchester County, north of New York City.
On Wednesday, officials revealed that similar devices, all contained in manila envelopes, were sent to several people, including Mr. Obama, Mrs. Clinton, and Representative Maxine Waters of California — all Democrats.
Another bomb, addressed to John O. Brennan, a Republican and a former C.I.A. director, was sent to the offices of CNN in Midtown Manhattan. And yet another was sent to Eric H. Holder, Jr., the attorney general under Mr. Obama, but because it was addressed incorrectly, it went to the return address on the package — the offices of Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat and former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.
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