UPDATED, 2:20 p.m. ET: Suspected explosive devices mailed to the homes of both Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton have been intercepted by the Secret Service, as CNN reports. The Secret Service says it "has intercepted two suspicious packages addressed to Secret Service protectees." As the day has progressed, more suspicious packages sent to notable figures have been found, the intended recipients/offices now including Maxine Waters and Kamala Harris.
Reuters later reported that "there was no suspicious package addressed to the White House," as cited by personnel close to the situation, and Associated Press sent a correction via a tweet that reports are "incorrect." The Secret Service has clarified that there was no third intercepted package, confirming as such on Twitter.
BREAKING: Secret Service: Reports that it intercepted suspicious package sent to White House `are incorrect'
Earlier reports stated that the device addressed to Clinton's Westchester County home was found on Tuesday (Oct. 23) by a Secret Service employee screening her mail, while the package addressed to Obama was intercepted in Washington, D.C. on Wednesday (Oct. 24) morning.
A package at the CNN headquarters in NYC has left the building evacuated by staff, with Variety reporting that it's being treated as a real explosive. It reportedly contained a white substance in an envelope alongside a pipe and some wires.
The suspicious package delivered to CNN’s NYC office was specifically addressed to former CIA director John Brennan, who has been a vocal critic of Trump. “This suspicious package was in fact addressed to CNN but it was specifically addressed to the former CIA director John Brennan,” CNN’s Wolf Blizter explained on air.
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has said he "wouldn't be at all surprised if more devices show up." Former attorney general of the United States Eric Holder has also reportedly received a similar package, and another bomb has reportedly been intercepted outside of the San Diego Tribune building.
Maxine Waters is also reportedly a target, with a suspicious package addressed to her intercepted at a Capitol Heights processing facility, which processes the mail going to the Capitol.
With reports of another package being intercepted at a Congressional mail facility in Maryland which process mail for House members, it's starting to look as if Holder is very much right about the situation.
As the New York Times points out, the devices found come less than a week after billionaire and prominent democrat donor George Soros had a pipe bomb placed in his mailbox. Soros is a common target among far-right conspiracy theorists, with many accusing him of being something of a left-wing puppet master among other things.
Vice President Mike Pence has condemned the attacks on Twitter, writing, "These cowardly actions are despicable & have no place in this country."
Trump retweeted Pence's comment, saying he agrees "wholeheartedly."
Trump later addressed the nation during a press conference, giving an expanded response to the ongoing situation. "Acts or threats of political violence have no place in the United States," he explained. “We’re extremely angry, upset, unhappy about what we witnessed this morning and we will get to the bottom of it.” He added that now is the time to "unify," and that a "major federal investigation" is underway.
“The packages were immediately identified during routine mail screening procedures as potential explosive devices and were appropriately handled as such,” the Secret Service said. “The protectees did not receive the packages nor were they at risk of receiving them.”
