Obama and Clinton’s house targeted, Explosives found

NP NEWS 24 ONLINE – The packages arrived in familiar manila envelopes affixed with lots of stamps, some bearing the American flag. But what was inside was alarming: crude pipe bombs wrapped in black tape, with wires sprouting from each end.

The hunt for a serial mail bomber began late Tuesday night when Secret Service personnel conducting standard mail screenings found a pipe bomb inside a plain manila envelope with a bubble-wrapped interior addressed to the former secretary of state Hillary Clinton. A similarly packaged bomb was found hours later in the mail addressed to former president Barack Obama.

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Neither bomb got close to its intended target, and neither contained a written message, according to law enforcement officials, but the twin discoveries led to other undetonated devices being found elsewhere, including in the mailroom at New York headquarters and a district office of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.).

All the confirmed bombs appeared to come from the same person or persons, said John Miller, the New York Police Department’s head of intelligence and counterterrorism, who briefed reporters in New York.

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Neither the Clintons nor the Obamas received the packages, and none had been at risk of receiving them because of screening procedures, the Secret Service said.

Officials described the devices as attempted acts of terrorism and cautioned that the number of bombs — and intended victims — could grow. FBI Director Christopher A. Wray issued an appeal for the public’s help to catch the bomber and warned people not to touch suspicious packages.

“This investigation is of the highest priority for the FBI,” Wray said in a statement. “We ask anyone who may have information to contact the FBI. Do not hesitate to call; no piece of information is too small to help us in this investigation.”

Suspicious letters and packages have been sent to numerous public figures, including President Trump’s children. Donald Trump Jr., the president’s eldest son, tweeted: “As someone whose family has directly been the victim of these mail threats I condemn whoever did this regardless of party or ideology. This crap has to stop and I hope they end up in jail for a long time.”

A letter was sent to Trump Jr.’s home earlier this year that resulted in his wife going to the hospital. A man later pleaded guilty to sending threatening letters with white powder to Trump’s sons and other public figures.