Breaking News - Explosives Sent To Obama, Clintons As CNN Evacuated Over Suspicious Package

Explosive devices addressed to Hillary Clinton’s home and the house of former President Barack Obama were intercepted, and the Time Warner ...

Explosive devices addressed to Hillary Clinton’s home and the house of former President Barack Obama were intercepted, and the Time Warner Centre that is home to CNN in New York City was evacuated after a suspicious package was sent there, officials said.

Investigators are working to determine whether the two devices addressed to Clinton and Obama are connected to a pipe bomb found earlier this week in the home mailbox of billionaire George Soros near where the Clintons live in Chappaqua, New York, multiple law enforcement officials told ABC News.

The preliminary belief is that all three devices are of similar pipe-bomb-style construction.

The New York Police Department bomb squad was responding to the suspicious package inside the mail room of the Time Warner Centre in Manhattan’s Columbus Circle.

Police sources told ABC News that the package appears to be a metal pipe with wires. Floors above and below the mail room were evacuated.

CNN anchor Jim Sciutto was on air at the time of the evacuation, and the channel’s news coverage was switched over to its offices in Washington D.C. Sciutto called in to the broadcast to say that he and hundreds of other CNN employees were standing outside, watching a “very fast-acting, quick response group” of NYPD officers responding to the scene.

Barack Obama

Responding agents from the Bureau of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms and Explosives were also on the scene in Columbus Circle as part of the investigation into the suspicious package sent to CNN. The ATF agents are working alongside the NYPD and other investigators on the scene.

The US Postal Inspection Service is also involved in the investigation.

CNN president Jeff Zucker sent a note to the company’s New York-based employees, saying that the evacuation was ordered “out of an abundance of caution.”

“We are working with authorities to determine the severity of the situation,” Zucker wrote, adding that they are checking all bureaus “around the world, out of a complete abundance of caution.”

The NYPD Intelligence, Counterterrorism and Bomb Squad teams tell ABC News they are also increasing patrols at locations in New York City associated with the individuals who were purported targets of other explosives — George Soros, Bill and Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama — and inspecting packages delivered to locations affiliated with those individuals.

As a precaution, the NYPD reports that they are increasing patrols at media locations in New York City and other potential areas. The source said the package was discovered and screened away from the residence.

Former President Bill Clinton was at home at the time the package was intercepted, according to a source familiar with the situation.

“Every day, I am grateful to the women and men of the United States Secret Service. Thank you,” former first daughter Chelsea Clinton tweeted Wednesday.

The Secret Service stressed that the packages sent to Clinton or Obama did not reach them.

“The packages were immediately identified during routine mail screening procedures as potential explosive devices and were appropriately handled as such,” the Secret Service said in a statement.

Bill and Hillary Clinton live in Westchester County, north of New York City, and the Obamas in Washington, DC.
Hillary Clinton was scheduled to speak at a campaign event in Coral Gables, Florida at midday Wednesday, where security appeared to be tight.

People and cars were being kept away from the perimeter of the building where she is to speak, and police have closed off surrounding streets.

President Trump has been briefed on the suspicious packages sent to the Clinton and Obama homes and the White House has now issued a statement forcefully condemning the “attempted violent attacks.”

“We condemn the attempted violent attacks recently made against President Obama, President Clinton, Secretary Clinton, and other public figures,” Sarah Sanders says in a statement. “These terrorizing acts are despicable, and anyone responsible will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. The United States Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies are investigating and will take all appropriate actions to protect anyone threatened by these cowards.”

Vice President Mike Pence called the acts “despicable.”

“Those responsible will be brought to justice,” Pence said in a statement.

White House press secretary Sarah Sanders also issued a statement forcefully condemning the “attempted violent attacks.”

The president’s son, Donald Trump Jr, condemned the incidents as well, drawing on his family’s experience being the target of attempted attacks in the past.

“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,” Donald Trump Jr. wrote on Twitter. – ABC News

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