US mail bombs: FBI focuses on Florida in suspicious packages investigation
Officials say they are chasing leads in Florida as Robert De Niro and Joe Biden become the latest to be sent suspicious packages.
Friday 26 October 2018 04:39, UK
Officials investigating pipe bombs sent to high-profile Democrats and critics of Donald Trump are chasing leads in Florida, according to a federal law enforcement source.
The development comes after actor Robert De Niro - a staunch critic of the US president - and former vice president Joe Biden became the latest to be targeted.
A total of 10 suspicious packages have been intercepted since Monday, with recipients including former president Barack Obama, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton and billionaire philanthropist George Soros.
Washington radio station WMAL has said it also received a suspicious package and is currently being evacuated.
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The packages were intercepted two weeks before the US mid-term elections and has brought Mr Trump's harsh rhetoric towards his adversaries to light.
He condemned the attempted attacks but hit out at the mainstream media on Twitter.
"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," he wrote.
"It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!"
At a rally in Wisconsin on Wednesday, Mr Trump took aim at news outlets, calling them the "enemy of the people" and joked about "how nice I'm behaving tonight".
New York governor Andrew Cuomo said political discourse in the US had become "so nasty".
He told CNN: "We have to get back to a point where we can have political debate without political violence. We're not Democrats and Republicans - we're Americans - our flag is red, white and blue, we're one nation."
No one has claimed responsibility for sending the explosive devices and the FBI is urging people with information to come forward.
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio previously said it was "clearly an act of terrorism".
Former CIA chief John Brennan, who had a suspicious package addressed to him on Wednesday, hit back at the US leader
"Stop blaming others. Look in the mirror. Your inflammatory rhetoric, insults, lies, & encouragement of physical violence are disgraceful," he wrote on Twitter. "Clean up your act....try to act Presidential. The American people deserve much better. BTW, your critics will not be intimidated into silence."
Speaking to reporters, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders was asked if Donald Trump would stop laying into political opponents given the recipients of the suspicious packages.
Ms Sanders said the president would "continue to lay out the case" ahead of the mid-term elections, adding: "Americans have a choice to make."
She defended Mr Trump's tweet attacking the media and said: "The president feels we should call out despicable acts, which is what he has done, but day in day out there's a negative tone - 90% of the coverage is negative."
She said outlets failed to highlight the president's work on trade deals and national security, adding: "You guys continue to focus on the negatives."
The federal law enforcement source said investigators believed all 10 packages intercepted so far went through the US Postal Service at some point despite reports suggesting some were hand-delivered.
They said the pipe bombs discovered on Wednesday were similar to the ones sent to Mr Biden and De Niro.
Officers described the devices as crude while security experts said they may have been designed to create fear rather than kill.
Later on Thursday, Washington's Cannon House - a congressional office building - was evacuated but police soon gave the all-clear to staff.
It is still unclear why they were asked to vacate the building or if it was linked to the suspicious packages.