The New York Times/Rashbaum, Feuer & Goldman: Several of the pipe bombs sent to critics of President Trump may have been mailed from Florida, officials said.

The New York Times

Pipe Bombs Investigation Turns Toward Florida as More Trump Critics Are Targeted
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Police officers in the TriBeCa neighborhood of Manhattan, where a pipe bomb addressed to the actor Robert De Niro was found on Thursday.CreditCreditJeenah Moon for The New York Times

By William K. Rashbaum, Alan Feuer and Adam Goldman

    Oct. 25, 2018

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Federal authorities investigating a spate of pipe bombs sent this week to several prominent critics of President Trump have turned their attention to southern Florida, believing that a number of the devices were mailed from there, two people briefed on the matter said Thursday.

The focus on Florida came as three more devices were found, the F.B.I. said. Two were addressed to former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. in Delaware and a third to the actor Robert De Niro, who lives and works in Lower Manhattan.

All 10 of the similar-looking packages discovered since Monday bore return addresses from Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Democrat whose district is in southern Florida. And Kirstjen Nielsen, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, told Fox News on Thursday that some of the packages were sent from within the state.

Information collected by the United States Postal Service focused attention on certain Florida postal centers, including one in Opa-locka that the Miami-Dade Police Department’s bomb squad and K-9 unit swept on Thursday as a “precautionary measure.”

The continuing wave of bombs has prompted an intense nationwide investigation into whether Trump critics or others vilified by the right are being targeted.

None of the devices have so far exploded on their own, and investigators have been trying to determine whether any were even capable of detonating. Striking a note of caution, the New York City police commissioner, James P. O’Neill, said at a news conference that the packages contained “live devices” that should be “treated with the utmost seriousness.”
Targets of Potential Explosive Devices

At least 10 suspicious packages have been discovered since Monday.

Hillary Clinton

Chappaqua, N.Y.

George Soros

Katonah, N.Y.

John O. Brennan

Robert De Niro

New York City

Joseph R. Biden Jr.

Delaware

Maxine Waters

Barack Obama

Washington

Maxine Waters

Los Angeles

Eric H. Holder Jr.

Debbie Wasserman Schultz

Sunrise, Fla.

A device intended for Mr. Holder was misaddressed and sent to Ms. Wasserman Schultz's office because her name was on the return address. | By Jugal K. Patel and Joe Ward

“The devices should be considered dangerous,” Mr. O’Neill said.

[What we know — and don’t know — about the bombs]

A law enforcement official said the envelope and printed address labels on the packages sent to Mr. Biden and Mr. De Niro were similar to those sent to the CNN offices in New York and to former President Barack Obama, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and others. An X-ray showed the package sent to Mr. De Niro contained a device that seemed to be a pipe bomb.

Federal, state and local investigators in New York, Washington, Florida and Los Angeles have all joined forces in the rapidly widening case, which has sent a shock through the nation’s political and news media establishments.

Though investigators initially believed that some of the packages were delivered by hand or courier, they have now concluded that all 10 were likely sent through the mail, a person briefed on the matter said.

The Postal Service records images of mail that comes into its system. As part of the inquiry, officials have been searching those images in an effort to determine where the packages originated, as well as to identify and catch any other possible explosive devices.

In addition to conducting a forensic examination of the packages and explosive devices, federal authorities were seeking to determine where the envelopes, mailing labels and bomb components were purchased.

Several law-enforcement officials said that investigators would likely obtain data from cell towers in the areas where they believe the packages were mailed. The data from each area could then be cross-referenced to create lists of phone numbers — and, ultimately, phone users — who were in the areas around the times the packages were mailed, the officials said.
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The device sent to former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. was found at a U.S. postal service facility in Delaware, a law enforcement official said.CreditDavid Swanson/The Philadelphia Inquirer, via Associated Press

The devices sent to Mr. Biden were intercepted at a United States Postal Service facility in Delaware, a law enforcement official said. Similar to one that had been sent to Eric H. Holder Jr., the former attorney general, the envelopes were misaddressed and were redirected to Ms. Wasserman Schultz’s return address.

The package sent to Mr. De Niro had been sitting in a mailroom at his movie company, TriBeCa Productions, since at least Tuesday, according to a person briefed on the investigation. Security personnel at the company discovered it about 5 a.m. Thursday and called the New York Police Department, whose bomb squad responded, officials briefed on the matter said.

Before dawn, a swarm of police vehicles and ambulances on standby choked the streets of the TriBeCa neighborhood. The police closed off several blocks around the building that houses the film company and Mr. De Niro’s restaurant, the TriBeCa Grill.

The package was removed about 6:30 a.m. and taken to the Police Department’s range in the Bronx. It was later driven to the F.B.I. lab in Quantico, Va., along with the device found at CNN and those intercepted in Delaware.

Mr. De Niro, like the other recipients of packages, has been a frequent critic of Mr. Trump. During the Tony Awards ceremony in June, he gave a speech in which he attacked the president with an obscenity, and a video of his comments was widely shared on social media.

[Robert De Niro has long been an outspoken critic of President Trump]

Mayor Bill de Blasio of New York said on Thursday that an “eagle-eyed security employee” at TriBeCa Productions had noticed similarities between the package the company received and photos of envelopes that were discovered on Wednesday.

“There is somebody, by definition, who is a serial bomber, yes, and a terrorist,” Mr. de Blasio said in an appearance on CNN, whose New York office also received an explosive device on Wednesday.
Video
A suspicious device resembling a pipe bomb was sent to CNN and addressed to Barack Obama’s ex-C.I.A. director John Brennan. Here’s what we know about it.Published OnOct. 24, 2018

In anticipation of additional packages being found on Thursday, the New York Police Department deployed additional officers outside news media companies and elected officials’ offices, Mr. de Blasio said.

Tension continued to run high throughout the day. Just after 7:30 p.m., some people inside the Time Warner Center shops were asked to leave as the police investigated a pair of unattended packages. A law enforcement official said it appeared to be a “routine suspicious package” call unrelated to the pipe bombs. The building, which also houses CNN’s New York offices, was not evacuated.

The first bomb was found on Monday at the home of George Soros, the billionaire advocate of liberal causes, in Westchester County, north of New York City. In recent days, some on the right have falsely speculated that he funded the caravan of migrants moving north from Honduras.

On Wednesday, several new bombs were discovered, one after the other. First, there was word that the Secret Service had intercepted packages addressed to Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Obama. Then a package addressed to John O. Brennan, a former C.I.A. director, was found in the offices of CNN in Midtown Manhattan.

By the end of the day one package was discovered addressed to Mr. Holder, who recently said of opponents on the right, “When they go low, we kick them.” Two other packages were sent to Representative Maxine Waters, a California Democrat, who has repeatedly traded barbs with Mr. Trump.

[For a country already on edge, the attempted attacks marked an unsettling turn ahead of the midterm election]

All the packages were sent in manila envelopes lined with Bubble Wrap. Each was fixed with about a half dozen first-class postage stamps and had return addresses with the name, misspelled, of Ms. Wasserman Schultz, who was once chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.

A white powder included in the package sent to CNN did not present a biological threat, the F.B.I. said on Thursday.

Michael S. Schmidt, Patricia Mazzei and Derek Norman contributed reporting.
A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: More Pipe Bombs As Inquiry Turns Toward Florida. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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