Home-grown terrorismSecret Service intercepts explosive devices sent to Clintons, Obama, CNN

Published 24 October 2018

The U.S. Secret Service says it has intercepted two suspicious packages with “possible explosive devices,” one of them addressed to former President Barack Obama and the other to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Within hours, the Time Warner Center in New York, where news network CNN has studios, was evacuated Wednesday morning after a suspicious device was found in the mail room there.

The U.S. Secret Service says it has intercepted two suspicious packages with “possible explosive devices,” one of them addressed to former President Barack Obama and the other to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, who lost the 2016 national election to President Donald Trump.

Within hours, the Time Warner Center in New York, where news network CNN has studios, was evacuated Wednesday morning after a suspicious device was found in the mail room there. The network reported that New York police believe they have “this particular situation under control.”

The Secret Service said the package addressed to Clinton was discovered late Tuesday, intercepted at a mail screening facility near her home home in a New York suburb where she lives with her husband, former President Bill Clinton. The Secret Service said a second package addressed to Obama was intercepted in Washington.

The New York Times reported the device addressed to Clinton is similar to the one that was placed in a mail box earlier this week outside the New York home of philanthropist George Soros, a major donor to Democratic candidates.

White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said, “We condemn the attempted violent attacks recently made against President Obama, President Clinton, Secretary Clinton, and other public figures. These terrorizing acts are despicable, and anyone responsible will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”

She 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 Secret Service said the packages addressed to Obama and Hillary Clinton “were immediately identified during routine mail screening procedures as potential explosive devices and were appropriately handled as such. The protectees (Obama and the Clintons) did not receive the packages nor were they at risk of receiving them.”

This article is published courtesy of the Voice of America (VOA)