WASHINGTON (AP) — The Latest on pipe bombs sent to prominent Democrats and CNN (all times local):
Investigators probing crude pipe bombs sent to prominent Democrats are trying to determine whether the devices were intended to detonate or whether they were simply sent to sow fear.
That’s according to two law enforcement officials who said the devices were not rigged like a traditional booby trap package bomb that would explode upon opening.
The officials said they didn’t appear to have a trip wire or ignition.
The officials weren’t authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
The four-day mail-bomb scare widened Thursday as law enforcement officials recovered three more devices.
The packages addressed to former Vice President Joe Biden and one to actor Robert De Niro were similar to crude pipe bombs sent to former President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and CNN.
___
11:45 a.m.
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is hailing the “quick-witted work” of a security guard who alerted authorities to a suspicious device at Robert De Niro’s Manhattan office.
Two officials told The Associated Press on Thursday that a person working at the building with a law-enforcement background called police after seeing images of a package bomb sent to CNN and recalling a similar package addressed to De Niro.
De Blasio said: “Thank God there were no injuries.”
De Blasio said the device removed from De Niro’s office “was very similar to the devices that have located within the last 48 hours” at CNN and locations connected to prominent Democrats.
He said all of them appear to be from the same sender and it’s “clearly an effort to terrorize people politically, to choose people for political purposes and attack them because of their beliefs.”
De Blasio said the device is being examined at an NYPD facility in the Bronx.
___
11:10 a.m.
The FBI is confirming packages addressed to former Vice President Joe Biden and actor Robert De Niro are similar in appearance to those used to send bombs to prominent Democrats.
The FBI provided the update in a tweet Thursday morning.
New York City police early Thursday recovered a package addressed to De Niro with the same return address used on the other packages.
A law enforcement official said two packages addressed to Biden were intercepted at Delaware mail facilities in New Castle and Wilmington.
The official wasn’t authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Pipe bombs addressed to Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama, former CIA director John Brennan and former Attorney General Eric Holder have also been intercepted in recent days.
— By Eric Tucker and Michael Balsamo in Washington.
___
10:30 a.m.
Law enforcement officials say the suspected explosive device sent to Robert De Niro may have been sitting in the mailroom of his building for a day or more before it was discovered.
Two officials told The Associated Press on Thursday that a person affiliated with the Tribeca Film Center was off work when he saw an image on the Internet and elsewhere of the package containing a crude pipe bomb sent to CNN.
That person, who has a background in law enforcement, recalled seeing a similar package at the film center mailroom earlier and reported it to police.
Emergency service officers were dispatched early Thursday to retrieve it. It had the same return address used on the other packages. An official said it was suspected to have been delivered earlier this week.
The two officials weren’t authorized to discuss the investigation and spoke on condition of anonymity.
— By Colleen Long in Washington and Tom Hays in New York.
___
9:55 a.m.
A law enforcement official says a second package addressed to former Vice President Joe Biden has been intercepted at a mail facility in Wilmington, Delaware.
The official says it has similar markings and characteristics as the packages containing bombs sent to other prominent Democrats.
The official said another package addressed to Biden was also found Thursday morning, that one at a postal center in New Castle, Delaware.
The official wasn’t authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on the condition of anonymity.
Several packages containing pipe bombs packed with shards of glass have been intercepted in the last few days. They targeted Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama, CNN and others.
A New York City police bomb squad has recovered a suspicious package addressed to Robert De Niro.
— By Eric Tucker and Michael Balsamo
___
9:45 a.m.
White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders says the notion that President Donald Trump is responsible for the packages sent to his opponents is “disgraceful.”
She told reporters Thursday there’s a big difference between “comments made and actions taken.”
Suspicious packages addressed to actor Robert De Niro and former Vice President Joe Biden were intercepted Thursday, and investigators said they were similar to crude pipe bombs sent to former President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and CNN.
Sanders says the president is not responsible for sending suspicious packages any more than Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont, was responsible for one of his supporters shooting up a GOP baseball practice last year in Virginia. The gunman, James Hodgkinson, had posted social media messages suggesting he targeted the team because of his political views.
___
9:10 a.m.
One of the targets in a string of mail bombs is telling President Donald Trump to stop blaming others for the anger in society.
The tweet Thursday by former CIA head John Brennan came shortly after Trump tweeted that much of the anger in society is caused by the “purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media.”
Brennan, a frequent critic of Trump, said: “Look in the mirror. Your inflammatory rhetoric, insults, lies, & encouragement of physical violence are disgraceful. Clean up your act….try to act Presidential.”
He said “your critics will not be intimidated into silence.”
A package containing a pipe bomb was sent to Brennan but addressed to CNN’s New York office. No one was hurt in that attempted attack or other mail bombs aimed at critics of Trump.
___
The biggest move by China against the U.S. in the tit-for-tat trade war could be a movement towards abandoning U.S. soybeans. China, facing a potential shortage following its 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans, is already purchasing from other suppliers and proposing to cut the amount of protein used in livestock feeds. CNN reports that one of China’s top feed industry groups proposed animals could get by with less than needed protein “at the moment.” The proposal would be hard to carry out for China, as millions of farmers would need to reduce the amount of foreign soybeans eaten by their pigs. China is also encouraging its domestic agriculture to produce more soybeans, but analysts say China is a long way from being able to produce anywhere near enough. Still, any shift in the market away from the U.S. poses great harm to U.S. producers as the United States sold more than $12 billion worth of soybeans to China last year.
President Donald Trump may be planning to permanently place Andrew Wheeler as Environmental Protection Agency Administrator. Pro Farmer reports that Trump this week said of Wheeler: “He is acting, but he is doing well, right? So maybe he won’t be so acting for so long.” President Trump made the comments during the White House’s State Leadership Day Conference. Acting roles are typically limited to 210 days in a post, with Wheeler having now a little more than 100 days under his belt as acting head of EPA. Wheeler, who has not been nominated for the post, took the acting role in July when then-administrator Scott Pruitt resigned. Wheeler inherited an agency in the midst of a large deregulation effort and a controversial biofuels agenda. However, Wheeler just last week said his agency can expand E15 sales to year-round without Congressional approval, a move ordered by President Trump and applauded by many agriculture groups earlier this month.
