With the parallel shipment of several suspected pipe bombs at least six prominent critics were targeted by US President Donald Trump. In addition to former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and former CIA director John Brennan, former Attorney General Eric Holder and Democrat MP Maxine Waters were also to receive explosive devices. The US media cited prosecutors.
The parcels resembled the letter bomb found Monday at the home of billionaire and philanthropist George Soros, the New York Times reported citing the police. Soros and the five politicians have openly and sometimes violently attacked Trump for his policy.
Video: Secret Service intercepts "suspicious packages" to Obama and Clinton
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AP
The explosives are obviously simple tube bombs, said FBI investigator Bryan Paarmann and John Miller, head of the New York anti-terrorist unit. Nobody was hurt.
According to an NBC report, the package of ex-Attorney Holder Holder was misdirected and landed instead in the office of the Democratic delegate Debbie Wasserman Schultz, whose address was specified as the sender. The package to MEP Waters was intercepted in a Maryland post office.
The package addressed to Brennan was sent to CNN, where the former CIA director regularly appears as a commentator. According to the police, the shipment to CNN contained a metal tube with wires and an envelope of white powder. The New York headquarters of the television station, which reports overwhelmingly critical of Trump, was evacuated.
Video: CNN offices in New York evacuated
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JUSTIN LANE / EPA-EFE / REX / Shutterstock
Criticism of the White House
As the investigation into the background continues, CNN Worldwide President Jeff Zucker accuses the White House of "utter misunderstanding" over the seriousness of the attacks on the media. "The President and especially the White House spokesperson should understand that their words are meaningful, so far they have not shown any understanding of it," he said.
Statement from CNN's Worldwide President Jeff Zucker: pic.twitter.com/OXyIT6oSLT
- CNN Communications (@CNNPR) October 24, 2018Trump condemned the alleged attacks: "Any acts of political violence do not belong in the United States of America." He spoke of "abominable deeds" and called the country to unity: "In these times we must unite."
Democrats from Congress described Trump's call for unity as implausible: "The president has repeatedly condemned physical violence and divided Americans with his words and deeds," said Democratic Senate chairman Chuck Schumer and House representative Nancy Pelosi, with.
In this context, they cited several examples, including Trump's "support" for the Congressman who defeated a reporter for the neo-Nazis who killed a young woman in Charlottesville, for his supporters at rallies that become violent against protesters, for dictators throughout World, who murder their own citizens and the claim that the free press is the enemy of the people ".
"This is the world in which we live"
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio said it was an act of terrorism "designed to undermine our free press and the leaders of this country by acts of violence." The governor of New York State stated that the package found: "This is the world we live in."
The alleged package bomb to Hillary Clinton was discovered, according to the authority on Tuesday evening (local time) in the district of Westchester, New York. Former presidential candidate and ex-president Bill Clinton have their home there. Hillary Clinton described the suspected explosive devices as an expression of the "disturbing times" that the US went through. The country was characterized by "deep divisions".