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.
California's new composting law will affect what residents do in their kitchens. As of this week, Californians will have to recycle excess food in an effort to reduce emissions caused by food waste. Cities and counties will turn recycled food into compost or use it as a renewable energy source. California's new law is the largest mandatory residential food waste recycling program in the country. Rachel Wagoner, Director of the California Department of Resources, Recycling and Recovery called the law 'the biggest change to trash' since recycling started in the 1980s. She joined Cheddar Climate to discuss.
As the U.S. comes up on the first anniversary of the January 6 insurrection.,A.C. Thompson, investigative reporter at ProPublica, joined Cheddar's Baker Machado to discuss updates to American Insurrection by FRONTLINE, ProPublica and Berkeley Journalism’s Investigative Reporting Program. The documentary investigates the attack on the Capitol touched off by the lie that the presidential election was stolen from Donald Trump but with new information gleaned since the event including interviews with lawmakers and law enforcement and the evolution of groups like the Boogaloo Boys and the Proud Boys behind the attack. "In some ways those groups that were kind of the vanguard of January 6 are maybe no longer relevant because their message is everywhere," he said.
A new report from ProPublica and the Washington Post found that Facebook Groups played a major role in the spread of misinformation linked to the January 6 insurrection with more than 650,000 posts claiming that Joe Biden's election victory was illegitimate.
Millions of Americans with young children have relied on the child tax credit since the federal government began issuing checks in July 2021. The last round of payments was sent out just before the Christmas holiday — at the same time as the omicron variant surged. Leah Hamilton, associate professor of social work at Appalachian State University, joined Cheddar to discuss what the end to the tax credit means as the U.S. sees the end of many relief programs and its highest number of COVID cases since the start of the pandemic. "It'll become harder for families to meet their basic needs, increasing national childhood poverty rates and the proportion of families who have difficulty putting food on the table, maintaining stable housing, and paying their bills," Hamilton said. She also pointed to research that the credit as a long-term investment in children offsets claims that it contributes to macroeconomic impacts like inflation.
U.S. President Joe Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky over the week-end, just days after he spoke with Russian President Vladimir Putin. The call comes as Washington prepares to meet with Moscow on January 10, as tensions mount over Russia's military build up near its border with Ukraine. Cheddar News speaks with Mustafa Tameez, a former advisor to the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, about the issue.
Several Silicon Valley insiders are being accused of contorting a 1990s-era tax break to avoid taxes on millions of dollars of investment profits. The tax break is known as the qualified small business stock exemption, and it allows early investors in certain companies to avoid half of the taxes on up to $10 million in capital gains. A piece recently published in the New York Times says venture capital firms like Andreessen Horowitz replicated the tax exemption by giving shares of companies to friends and family, who would otherwise face a 23.8% capital gains bill. The CEO of Roblox is also accused of replicating the tax break for his family members at least 12 times. Although the loophole known as 'stacking' is considered to be legal, the Times piece implies that the exemption has been manipulated for the ultra-wealthy to become more wealthy. Greycroft co-founder and Chairman Emeritus Alan Patricof joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Chris Sommerfeldt, City Hall reporter for the New York Daily News, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell, where he discusses both the wins and losses of Bill de Blasio's eight years as New York City Mayor.
