Multiple Explosive Devices Sent to Leftist Political Figures, Including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama

By Shane Ryan  |  October 24, 2018 | 9:55am
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Politics News Political Violence
Multiple Explosive Devices Sent to Leftist Political Figures, Including Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama
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UPDATE: 11:20 A.M.: Multiple updates have come in since the original story was published. See those updates below.

One day after an employee found an explosive device in George Soros’ mailbox, two more devices were found in mail sent to the offices of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Per the New York Times, there appears to be similarities between the three bombs:

The devices were similar to one found on Monday at the home of the billionaire philanthropist George Soros, the official said.

One device was found on Wednesday morning by a technician who screens mail for the office of Hillary Clinton, a law enforcement official said.

A second similar device was sent to the office of former President Barack Obama.

It was not immediately clear where the devices sent to the Clinton and Obama offices were found.

Details are still emerging, but if the three are related, it’s reasonable to guess what many of us suspected after the Soros news came out: These attacks are politically motivated in some way. Soros, a billionaire investor, is often the focus of right-wing conspiracy theories (paid protesters!) because of his liberal activism. And clearly, Clinton and Obama are also political figures on the American left.

UPDATE, 10:47 a.m.: Another explosive device was intercepted, this one apparently intended for CNN New York. The campus at CNN was evacuated. It was also briefly reported that a “suspicious package” was sent to the White House, but that is now being retracted. (Update, 11:30 a.m.: The secret service has released a statement say it’s not true.)

UPDATE, 11:20 a.m.: These two tweets seem to indicate another explosive device was sent to New York governor Andrew Cuomo.

It also seems like the package intended for Obama was detected at a Navy base:

And YET ANOTHER suspicious package was apparently sent to Debbie Wasserman-Schultz in Florida:

UPDATE, 11:36 a.m.: The package sent to CNN was apparently addressed to former CIA director John Brennan, a vocal opponent of Trump:

And we now know that most of the packages have a return address featuring a prominent Democrat’s name:

UPDATE, 1:29 p.m.: Eric Holder seems to have been another target:

Kamala Harris too:

UPDATE, 1:45 p.m.: The return address on many of the packages seems to be (sic) “Debbie Wasserman Shultz.”

UPDATE, 1:52 p.m.: Maxine Water is the latest target.

We don’t know everything about these attacks, and no culprit has been identified, but as of now, these two tweets seem quite appropriate:

We have to be cautious about saying definitively that these bombs were placed by a right-wing American influenced by Trump-adjacent propaganda, but that would certainly be the most obvious motive. Updates to come.

 
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