(Xinhua) — U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday vowed to take a thorough investigation into a series of attempted mail attacks targeting former President Barack Obama, the Clintons, CNN and others.
Speaking at the White House, Trump said he was briefed by federal authorities on those suspicious package attacks and promised “the full weight of our government is being deployed” to investigate.
“Acts and threats of political violence have no place in the United States of America.” He said. “We’re extremely angry, upset, unhappy about what we witnessed this morning and we will get to the bottom of it.”
The president did not mention any of the recipients of the packages by name in the remarks but called upon the nation to come together, saying “in these times, we have to unify.”
Trump made the comments at an event on opioid abuse.
First Lady Melania Trump told the audience that she “strongly” condemns all who choose violence and those “cowardly attacks” cannot be tolerated.
Police on Wednesday intercepted suspected explosive devices sent to several current and former U.S. political figures, as well as the CNN news channel.
The U.S. Secret Service announced earlier in the day that it has intercepted two packages containing “potential explosive devices” addressed to Obama and Clinton respectively during routine mail screening procedures.
The package intended for Obama was intercepted in Washington D.C. on Wednesday morning, and the one intended for Clinton was addressed to her in Westchester County, New York, on Tuesday, the Secret Service said in a statement.
Clinton, the Democratic presidential candidate in the 2016 election, was in Florida campaigning for Democrats on Tuesday night, but her husband was at home, reports said. She later said her family was fine.
Officials said Obama was not at risk.
“Both packages were intercepted prior to being delivered to their intended location,” according to the Secret Service. “The protectees did not receive the packages nor were they at risk of receiving them.”
The packages were recovered after an explosive device was found earlier this week in a mailbox at the Bedford, state of New York, home of billionaire investor and major Democratic donor George Soros.
Also on Wednesday morning, the New York Police Department responded to a suspicious device found in the Time Warner Center, where the CNN newsroom in New York is based. The building, which was evacuated, has been reopened and personnel is being allowed to come back.
The package was reportedly addressed to former CIA Director John Brennan, who regularly appears as a television contributor.
According to CNN, the device found in the Time Warner Center’s mailroom is similar to the ones addressed to Obama, Clinton and Soros.
It also reported that the initial examination of all of the devices shows them to be constructed similarly. At least one of the devices appeared to contain projectiles, including shards of glass. The devices are rudimentary but functional.
During a press conference addressing the device mailed to CNN, Democrat Cuomo told reporters that a suspicious device had been sent to his Manhattan office. The New York City Police Department said later that it turned out that the “device” was a letter and USB flash drive.
The San Diego Tribune newspaper reported Wednesday that its employees evacuated their building after five packages were found at the front entrance of the building, in which U.S. Senator Kamala Harris has an office.
The communications director for Harris has said that the packages found outside the building in San Diego, state of California, were not addressed to the Democratic senator or her office.
Police in Sunrise, the U.S. state of Florida, were investigating a suspicious package sent to the district office of Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz on Wednesday.
The building that houses the office of Schultz, the Democratic National Committee chair from 2011 to 2016, was evacuated after the suspicious package was discovered in the mail, according to the Sunrise police.
Reports say the package had been addressed to former Attorney General Eric Holder but Schultz was listed on the return address.
Democratic U.S. Representative Maxine Waters said in a statement on Wednesday that her office in Washington D.C. was “the target of a suspicious package that has been referred to the FBI.”
