Attempted Bombings Appear to Target Prominent Liberals, Media
*By Carlo Versano*
The explosive device sent to CNN in New York was an "effort to terrorize," said New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio.
Investigators at a press conference described the device as an apparent "live" pipe bomb. Officials fielded questions in front of the Time Warner Center, which houses CNN's New York studios and was partially evacuated Wednesday morning when the mailroom discovered the suspicious package. There was an unknown white powder that came with the device, which was undergoing testing, officials said.
Police officers were in the mailroom at the time because of the apparent bombs also sent to prominent Democrats over the last two days, including former President Obama, Hillary Clinton, and George Soros. NYPD Deputy Commissioner John Miller said officers were there to instruct mail handlers on what to do if they saw something suspicious.
N.Y. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said his office had also received a device Wednesday, though he did not elaborate on whether it was connected.
CNN reported the package it received was addressed to former CIA Chief John Brennan, with an address that comes up on Google ($GOOGL) for CNN's N.Y. bureau but is not its official address. Brennan does not work for CNN but has appeared on air making sharply critical comments of the Trump administration.
The network also reported that another device was sent to former A.G. Eric Holder, though the address was incorrect and it was returned to sender. That device had a return address of Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the former Democratic congresswoman from Florida. It was unclear whether a separate suspicious package reported at her office was, in fact, the Holder package being returned.
Yet another suspicious device was intercepted by Capitol Hill police that was addressed to Rep. Maxine Waters (D-CA), ABC News reported.
James O'Neill, the NYPD commissioner, said at least some of the devices had consistent packaging, and that given the targets, the possibility that they were part of a single politically motivated attack was "of concern."
The White House said in a statement on Wednesday: "These terrorizing acts are despicable, and anyone responsible will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law.”
President Trump, speaking at an event on the opioid epidemic, condemned "political violence of any kind" and said "in these times we have to unify."
He did not mention CNN.
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President Biden has ordered about 3,000 U.S. troops to Eastern Europe as Russia refuses to back off its pressure on Ukraine. The deployments to Poland, Germany, and Romania are a show of support to NATO allies concerned about a potential Russian invasion of Ukraine. This is in addition to the 8,500 troops put on high alert. David Tafuri, former Obama campaign foreign policy advisor and former State Department official, joined Cheddar to discuss what this move means for U.S.-Russia relations.
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The Biden Administration is set to revise federal rules to address potential security risks from foreign-owned apps, mainly Tiktok. This comes after the White House opted not to pursue a forced shutdown of the Chinese-owned video sharing platform. Under these new rules, federal oversight would be expanded to explicitly include apps that could be used by foreign adversaries to steal or otherwise obtain data. Senior Fellow at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies, Craig Singleton, joined Cheddar to discuss more.
