Updated 10:50am
Two separate “potential explosive devices” have been intercepted in mail sent to Hillary Clinton and former president Barack Obama.
In a statement, the Secret Service said that it “has intercepted two suspicious packages addressed to Secret Service protectees,” identified as Clinton and Obama. “The packages were immediately identified during routine mail screening procedures as potential explosive devices and were appropriately handled as such,” according to the statement. “The protectees did not receive the packages nor were they at risk of receiving them.”
The Secret Service intercepted the package addressed to Obama in D.C, while a suspicious package officials described as a “functional explosive device” was found near the Clintons’ Chappaqua, New York home.
We are aware of a suspicious package found in the vicinity of the Clinton residence in Chappaqua, NY, and our JTTF has engaged with our federal, state and local partners to investigate. As this is an on-going investigation, we will have no further comment at this time
— FBI New York (@NewYorkFBI) October 24, 2018
Later Wednesday morning, news network CNN evacuated its Manhattan offices over a suspicious package feared to contain a bomb.
The network said a police bomb squad was investigating at their office.
The scare comes just two days after a device that resembled a pipe bomb was planted near the home of billionaire Democratic donor George Soros. An employee of the Soros residence in Bedford found the suspicious package in the mailbox on Monday and placed it in a wooded area before calling local police, who notified the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Explosives. Officers found the device contained explosive power and detonated it as a precaution.
The Clintons’s Chappaqua home is close to Soros’s residence. Both homes are in Westchester County, and investigators believe the two incidents to be related.
The White House condemned the threats of violence in a statement, saying those responsible will be “held accountable.”
“We condemn the attempted violent attacks recently made against President Obama, President Clinton, Secretary Clinton, and other public figures. These terrorizing acts are despicable, and anyone responsible will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”