*WASHINGTON – Suspected explosive devices were sent to former presidentBarack Obama, defeated presidential nominee Hillary Clinton and to abuilding housing CNN’s New York bureau less than 24 hours apart and lessthan two weeks before key US midterm elections, officials confirmedWednesday.*
The targeted Democrats are among the most high-profile political figures inthe United States, which goes to the polls on November 6 in elections seenas a referendum on Republican President Donald Trump.
CNN has distinguished itself in the last two years for its aggressivecoverage of the Trump administration and robust criticism of theRepublican, who replaced Obama and defeated Clinton in the 2016 election.
The secret service recovered a package addressed to Clinton in Westchester,a suburb north of Manhattan on Tuesday, and a second package addressed tothe Obama residence in Washington on Wednesday.
CNN evacuated its New York bureau Wednesday after a suspicious device,which police described as a metal pipe with wires, was found in themailroom of the Time Warner Center.
The White House swiftly condemned what it called “despicable” actstargeting the two Democrat luminaries.
“These terrorizing acts are despicable, and anyone responsible will be heldaccountable to the fullest extent of the law,” said press secretary SarahSanders.
“The United States secret service and other law enforcement agencies areinvestigating and will take all appropriate actions to protect anyonethreatened by these cowards.”
The precise contents of the suspicious packages sent to Clinton and Obamawere not immediately clear. There has been no claim of responsibility andno one was yet thought to have been arrested.
The secret service said the packages were “immediately identified duringroutine mail screening procedures as potential explosive devices and wereappropriately handled as such.”
“The protectees did not receive the packages nor were they at risk ofreceiving them,” it added.
New York police confirmed to AFP that its officers had been called to theTime Warner Center, where the CNN bureau in the US financial capital islocated, to investigate reports of a suspicious package.
Police later identified the CNN package as a “suspicious device describedas a metal pipe with wires,” and confirmed that its emergency service unitand bomb squad were on the scene, in a crowded part of Midtown Manhattan.
The secret service, which provides protection to current and former USpresidents and their families — Clinton is the wife of former presidentBill Clinton — said it had initiated a “full scope criminal investigation.”
The investigation would “leverage all available federal, state, and localresources” to determine the source of the packages and identify thoseresponsible, it said. – APP/AFP