Man Arrested in South Florida in Mail Bomb Attempts
*By Carlo Versano*
Federal authorities have arrested Cesar Sayoc, Jr., a 56-year-old Florida resident, in connection with a dozen packages containing likely explosives sent to prominent figures and institutions around the U.S. over the past week.
Sayoc lives in Aventura and has a criminal record, according to the Broward County Sheriff.
President Trump, speaking at a summit for young black Republicans, commended law enforcement for the arrest and called the mail bombing attempts "terrorizing acts."
"We must never allow political violence to take root in America," Trump said. "I'm committed to doing everything in my power as president to stop it and stop it now."
Chopper video from Miami local news stations showed police outside an auto-parts store in Plantation, Fla. FBI agents covered a white van with a tarp before loading it onto a flatbed truck.
Two additional suspicious packages sent to prominent Democrats were intercepted earlier Friday, only hours before the manhunt appeared to close in on a suspect for the attempted mail bombings now being described as a domestic terrorism.
Reporting from the distribution center where investigators are focused in Opa-Locka, Fla., Cheddar's J.D. Durkin said the escalation of political violence is expected to play a role in key midterm races such as in Florida's 26th district, where Democratic challenger Debbie Mucarsel-Powell urged Republican leaders to denounce what she called "acts of terrorism."
The FBI confirmed Friday morning that authorities intercepted a package addressed to Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) that was similar in appearance to the pipe-bomb parcels sent this week to other prominent Democrats. Moments later, CNN reported a package addressed to James Clapper, the former director of National Intelligence under President Obama, was found at a postal facility in Manhattan, N.Y. That package was addressed to Clapper care of CNN's New York office ー much like the device sent to CNN's mailroom was addressed to John Brennan, a former director of the CIA.
Speaking to Durkin from Miami-Dade County, Mucarsel-Powell, who is running neck-and-neck with incumbent Rep. Carlos Curbelo, said, "This is a very important time for us to unite regardless of party."
On Thursday night, Homeland Security Sec. Kristjen Nielsen said in an interview that authorities had zeroed in on Florida as a region of interest in the manhunt. At least some of the packages were reportedly processed at the sprawling mail sorting facility in Opa-Locka, about 10 miles north of Miami.
While all the packages sent this week were intended for people or entities that are high-profile critics of President Trump, authorities have not yet said definitively that they have determined a motive.
Earlier Friday, Trump continued to attack CNN in tweets and lamented that the "'Bomb' stuff" ー an attempted domestic terror attack on his political critics ー has slowed the momentum of Republicans going into the election.
The school shooting in Texas that left 19 children and 2 teachers dead has reignited the debate over gun control.
The tragedy in Uvalde is the deadliest school shooting in nearly a decade and marks the latest in a string of mass shootings in the country. Jared Moskowitz, Broward County Commissioner and candidate for Congress in FL-23, joined Cheddar's Opening Bell to discuss why gun control measures are stalled in the Senate, and where legislation can move forward from here.
Police and detectives are still investigating the tragic school shooting in Uvalde, Texas that killed 19 children and two adults. Cheddar News was joined by Kirk Burkhalter, professor at New York Law School and former NYPD detective to gain some insight on what investigators are looking for and what comes next.
Texas authorities say the gunman who massacred 21 people at an elementary school was in the building for over an hour before he was killed by law enforcement officers.
Join Cheddar News as we break down the top headlines for Thursday, May 26 including updates on the Texas school shooting, President Joe Biden's executive order on police reform, and a recount in the Pennsylvania GOP Senate primary.
Representative Morgan Griffith of Virginia rebuked words from the FDA commissioner that could have been construed as blaming parents for stockpiling baby formula exacerbating the shortage.
Cheddar News reporter Megan Pratz brings the latest from the scene of yesterday's horrific school shooting at a Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. Now the second-deadliest school shooting in U.S. history with 19 children and two adults killed, Pratz goes into comments by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, details about the deceased shooter, and reactions from members of the community.
The Robb Elementary School mass shooting killing 19 children and two adults in Uvalde, Texas pm Tuesday was the deadliest school shooting since the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre in Newtown, Connecticut, and came just 10 days after the grocery store shooting in Buffalo, New York. Nelson Vergara, the founder and CEO of 360 Protective Solutions, joined Cheddar’s Opening Bell to discuss. "Right now what law enforcement is concentrating on is trying to trace his steps as to what motivated the gunman to act the way he did. What it boils down to just trying to figure out what led to his motivation to do such a horrific act.”
An recently conducted AP-NORC poll found that majorities of the Black and Hispanic populations in the U.S. still find themselves either somewhat worried or extremely worried over the pandemic, while more than half of white Americans responded with either being not too worried or not worried at all. Dr. Chris Pernell, the chief strategic integration and health equity officer at University Hospital, joined Cheddar News to talk about how perceptions of COVID-19 differ between groups of Americans. "We’re still seeing people get infected, and because of the toll of the disproportionate impact, we have concerns among the Black and brown community about whether or not they have an increased risk of exposure because of where they work, because of the use of public transportation, because they live in homes that they may not be able to safely quarantine and or isolate in, and because they have at baseline chronic health conditions that may make coronavirus more severe in those persons," she said.
Judith Enck, a former regional administrator for the EPA and the president of Beyond Plastics, joined Cheddar News to talk about the role of plastics in the climate crisis and California's investigation of ExxonMobil and other oil companies for misleading the public on the ability to recycle plastics. "The reason why petrochemical companies like Exxon have gotten away with selling more and more plastic is that they've lied to the public and told us don't worry about all those negative upstream impacts and downstream impacts of plastics. Just be sure to recycle it. Well, guess what? Plastics largely are not recycled," Enck said.
