The scene with one of the pipestyle devices sent to the clinton home, and obama home as well, and investigators confirm it has been sent there, and now we are also informed that Debbie Wassermann schultz office is evacuated as well in sunrise, florida. And now we go to andrea mitchell. We continue the breaking coverage of suspicious packages sent to the chappaqua home of bill and Hillary Clinton and the washington, d. C. , home of barack and michelle obama, and the packages to the clintons and the obamas were flagged in routine screenings before they reached oo either home. In new york, the Law Enforcement and the First Responders are responding to the the evacuation of Cnn Headquarters in time warner headquarters in
manhattan. Cnn reports that pipe wires were hanging out of it, and this is one day after investigators found an Explosive Device at the billionaire philanthropist, and long time democratic contributor george soros who has been the victim of right wing conspiracy opponents. And now in sunrise, florida, responding to the t fog ing to congresswoman Debbie Wassermann schultz local office. The Law Enforcement says that the returned a dress for the soros, clintons, obamas and did belong to the congresswoman, and it is a false returned a dress indicating the is similarity between whoever sent all of the packages, and the white house is
quick to condemn the acts. The statement from press secretary Sarah Sanders saying that we condemn the attempted Violent Attacks recently made against president obama, president clinton, secretary clinton, and these other figures. These terrorizing angts are despicable, and anyone responsible will be held accountable for the fullest extent of the law. And ali velshi is outside of new york, and ron allen outside of the clinton home no chappaqua, and garrett headache outside of the obama home in washington, d. C. , and Philippe Raines a long time adviser to Hillary Clinton when she was secretary of state
and president ial candidate. What do we oknow about the investigation, petet . Well, we are told that the authorities have a pretty good idea what packages they came from. And one of The Big Question Kws yet to be answered is whether in fact these devices are actually functioning. Now, swwe have shown a moment a a picture of what the inside of these devices look like. It is a pipe that is wrapped in, appears to be wrapped in black electriciantype tape and has wires coming from it, and the little yellow there on the lefthand part of the screen is some of the apparently packaging material that some of these came n and all of them in padded envelopes, and not boxes, but envelopes, and inside of the pipe device, and at least the one analyzed is what is called black powder, and what you might commonly call gunpowder. So it is not an unusual type explosive and most of these things are easily available materiels which is the case for most pipe bombs. Most of them in the padded materials, and all of them with Debbie Wassermann schultz phony address on them, and they appear to be working explosives, but whether or not they have worked and we had appeared this graphic, and we were not naming Debbie Wassermann schultz, but now we are because they are searching her offices in florida to see if one of those devices was there, and one of a couple of things to emphasize, the one sent to the clintons and the obamas here never got anywhere near the addresses or the homes in new york or here in washington, and they were all intercepted at off site mail facilities, and the one sent to george soros in new york was placed in the mailbox, and the one to the cnn was according to cnn found in their mail room. So they were not diverted before they were sent, because they are nongovernment facilities. And so we know now of five devices that we know of for sure. Soros, obamas, clintons, cnn and the question now is the one that is the suspicious package received at Debbie Wassermann schultz Florida Office one of these or not. A simple look will determine that. All of them were received through mail, and stamps on the outside and computerprinting type returned a dresses stuck the on with Adhesive Mail Type Labels and awe of them u all of padded envelope. And one more followup, and then we will go to Ali Velshi Outside of c nshnn. And how was that one to cnn inaccurately addressed . Yes, it is addressed to john brenn brennan, the former cia director. And he had appeared on cnn this the past, but he did not work there, and his name is also misspell misspelled on the label for what that is worth. But he was notified of this today. And obviously, you know, all of the people that have been, and these things have been sent to have been notified and asked to be extra vigilant about what may be coming through the mail or sent to them, but he doesnt have any connection to cnn and as a matter of fact, he has an agreement to be a commentator for nbc news. But in any event a that is how the package was addressed to cnn. And in fact, he has been a very strong criticism of some of President Trumps actions regarding the Intelligence Community and his Security Clearances were among those withdrawn by the president at the president s order. So he has been quite a target of
the administration in particular. Pete, i nknow that yu are standing by, but i want to go to Ali Velshi Outside of the Cnn Headquarters where there are packages discovered in the mailroom. Ali. Yes, goi got here just as people were evacuating here, and in a half hour we are expecting a briefing from the nypd Police Commissioner and others, and we have The Bomb Squad truck, and antiterrorism vehicles and others here. And that is not the Detonation Vehicle here, but it is design ed to block off our view, because until a few moments we had a straight view to east river and new jersey and this is 9tht avenue in front of us. And there are several entrances here to the shopping center, and some of the finest restaurants in the city, and the awning over
it, and it is residential tower and condominiums, and the third entrance which is glassed in, that is cnn and the entrance and the only way into and out of cnn. And to the Shopping Concourse there, and that is shutdown years ago and one entrance to the egress and beyond is a Parking Garage and it is a Public Parking garage and the Service Garage for cnn and cnn vehic vehicles go in, and the deliveries are made, and so it is unclear to how the package got to where it is, and it was misaddressed to john brennan and the address is 10 Columbus Circle and i worked here for seven years, and i did not the the address, but if you put cnn or Time Warner Center or the time warner circle, the mail will get here. So i know that we have had bomb
sniffing dogs in here all over the place including sniffing the u. P. S. Truck here. If you have been on 58th street behind, you cant get in or out. This is the situation. Cnn employees were on the air when a fire alarm went off, and i remember being here with the fire alarms and you take them seriously, a seriously, and they said that they would check what was going on and then they announced to evacuate, and broadcasting moved to d. C. And nothing is going on here. And cnn is evacuate and the retail side is evacuate and everybody is on the street. And my colleagues are reporting from a few feet away from me what is going on. We dont know if the device is out of the building and we would have told you, because we would have seen the Detonation Vehicle leave, but the view has been blocked off by the Police Bomb Squad truck behind us, and we are expecting a briefing in 30 minutes. And jeff zucker, the president of cnn has sent out a email to cnn that all of the facilities
have been checked around the world, and they have installed a magnetomet magnetometer, and so every person in and out will have to be checked. One update. That device has been removed from cnn. It has not gone through the elevator, but it is taken from the vehicle to the bronx to be detonated for Safety Reasons of course. Bill bratton, the former nypd commissioner is with us now from new york. And bill, go through the procedures that the all of these wonderful nypd people on the streets there around Columbus Circle are going through right now as they also try to protect those who try to evacuatet any secondary device outside of the building . Well, a lot going on at the scene, the evacuation of the
building, the creel sealing of the area, and the bombsniffing dogs there check out the vehicles, and concerned is pulling people out of the low case, and the secondary device looking to take the advantage of those crowds outside of the facility, but no indicationf that as an actual threat. Precaution. The bomb device as i understand it looks to be removed. My understanding out to the rodmans neck facility which is out of the city area of the bronx is heavily escorted vehicle on the way out to the location. Out there, they will first attempt to examine the device through robots, et cetera, before detonating to one, determine if it is an active device, and is it capable oof detonating, and if so, what is the mechanism to detonate it. There is a lot of concern at the
moment that they just dont know it, and if these things are a hoax or the real thing. Hopefully they will get clarification fairly quickly to the allay the concern s s if it not the real thing. Additionally the nypd is reaching out to almost 3,000 partners they have in the private security in the new york are region trying to get as much information as possible as to what the envelopes looks like, and the device, itself, looks like, and also, putting the people on notice in the respective mail rooms. If you find something similar, and then effectively notify police immediately and get out of the area. So, a lot is a happening. I would anticipate both the News Conference that is scheduled for shortly, and i think it is 12 45, we will hopefully get more details and information as to whether or not these are actual devices capable of being exploded. And as bill, as you know, better than anyone, since 9 11 new york city has really ramped up through extraordinary
efforts, Counter Terror efforts that were led in great many years by our own late colleague mike sheehan, and new york police really know how the deal with this and new york city buildings have much more security at Office Buildings throughout wall street since 9 9 11, and so it is a community who knows how the deal with this and knows how the quickly identify suspicious packages that are false alarms from Something Like this with identifying details of concern and similarity the. And another great strength, andrea, from new york and i can speak from personal experience, the collegiality and the collaboration of the agencies, the atf and the fbi, and they work seamlessly in the emerge y emergenci emergencies, and that daytoday the relationship comes through, and you will see that there is significant federal representation, state and local and when anything like this would happen, the jurisdictional
tensions fade away, and we work very hard in new york to eliminate those, and they have been by and large eliminated. I wanted to share with you. Vice president mike pence has issued a statement saying that the we condemn the attempted attacks against former president obama, the clintons, cnn and others and these Cow Canwardly acti actions are despicable and no place in this country, and grateful for the Swift Response of local and state and federal gro groups. And started out i agree wholeheartedly. And chappaqua is the home of the clintons, and they are well acquainted with the procedures and the device whether it was
active or not, it never got to the home and through secret and federal protections. Ron . Yes, the clintons have been here for 18 years or so, and the home is behind that fence, and way back in the woods. You cant even see it from this road. As a matter of fact, it is very unusual for the media to even be allowed to get this close to the house over the years, and that is how well protected they are, and how far everyone is kept back from them. Out of the abundance of caution for any number of reasons, of course. We do believe that bill clinton, and former president clinton was here at the time that the device was intercepted. We know that Hillary Clinton is down in florida, and we have heard from Chelsea Clinton who has sent out a tweet thanking the Secret Service to intercept this device and protect her family. And we have not seen any of the clintons, and again, we dont know if president clinton is still here or not. And down the road from here about interestingly 10 miles or
so at the home of george soros, it is a different situation. We were out there yesterday, because the mailbox where that device was delivered is right on the road. It is right on the main road that runs right by his home. The buildings that are a part of the massive estate there are not far from that location. In that case, we understand that an employee and perhaps a Security Guard or someone else did actually take the device out of the mailbox presumably and looked at it and became suspicious, and called the police and The Bomb Squad came to detonate it. It is a much more potentially dangerous situation if in fact these devices are functional and might have exploded. Again, of course, you are aware of the response from george soros blaming the politics of hate for this. And clear ly saying it is the Political Climate and clearly saying that he was targeted and say saying that words do matter. And that is what you are hearing from the people around here, and they are very concerned about
this, and more conce concerne it is ignited by the politics of the country at the time. Andrea. Ron allen, i know that you will be on duty there, and garrett haik is there off of near where the former president and mrs. Obama live and staked out there. And they are always under the secret Service Protection and that is no longer a throughstreet because of the se Secret Service, and what is the situation here . Well, andrea, this is the second most protected block in all of d. C. You have the obamas home four houses down the road, and up the street around the corner is Jared Kushner and ivanka trumps home. The secret Service Presence here is permanent, and we have seen the barricade, and increased presence of the uniformed secret
s service, and the local police department, and definitely increase in the Police Presence here, and as with ron, we dont know if any of the obamas were home when this device was delivered, and we have to point out that the obamas do not receive their mail here. And so with all of the other the locations, there is a increase in the neighborhood, and some possibility of the secondary action and that sort of thing, but this is probably one of the most well watched and well guarded blocks in washington, d. C. , and that is going to continue i suspect for quite a while until they get to the bottom of who is sending these devices. And indeed. I know that there are statements made, garrett, about political can speech. We heard what ron allen reported george soros who is a prominent contributor but somebody who has been targeted by the conspiracy theorists. I want to bring in a longtime
clinton adviser, staff aide, and have you spoken to the clintons . I spoke to the Traveling Team E earlier today, and obviously, the first thing they thought of is the gratitude that they have to the Secret Service, and watching the coverage so far, and echoing what many have said including you and the former commissioner bill bratton, and these are very lucky people in that the former first families have secret Service Protection with such robust protocols, but if you are looking at who they have targeted so far, it is almost like they are following Donald Trumps twitter feed, and starting with Debbie Wassermann schultz, not everyone has that kind of security. And you have to be really concern cann e concerned that while so far nothing has hurt anybody so far, but when you are looking at the white house,
until donald trump tweeted so far, he has been mum. And the other part of sarah s d sanders statement is that they will be held accountable, and you have to ask how much donald trump is in the climate where this happened. I nknow that many people are suggesting that the anger on certainly the anger coming at rallies, but the anger on all side sides, the protests and the misstatements, and the Conspiracy Theorys have been rampant in the campaign, and it is a concern that many people have had. Mrs. Trump has now tweeted saying that she condemns all threats of violence and thanks the Law Enforcement for their heroic efforts, and Sarah Sanders has an additional statement which does mention the threats made to cnn as well as current or former public servant, because cnn and the press in general have been targeted at rallies by the
president. And joining us now, felipe, is frank fuglisi, and what is the protocol after a package like this is found . Well, this is what the fbi does best. They can coalesce agencieagenci local ksta local, state and federal, and to frank, i am sorry to interrupt you for a moment, because the Vice President is speaking right now. We will be right back here. These cowardly acts are despicable, and have no place in american society. I assure you that we have deployed the full resources of the fbi, the United StatesSecret Service and they are
working very closely with the Law Enforcement officials. We will continue to monitor these investigations, and those responsible will be brought to justice. It is great to be back in scranton wilkesbarre. I am is sorry that i interrupted you, frank, to bring you the Vice President s remarks at the moment. But you are saying how the fbi would be and will be responding to the seriousness of the incidents and including one of similar packages in different locati locations can. Yeah, where the fbi has real expertise, and it is not only within their joint Terrorism Task forces across the country, but specifically very impressive ca capabilities at what is called the tdac, the terrorist Device Analytical Center in alabama. And they have over 1,000 submissions of Explosive Devices they study for signature and biometric, and they speak to the investiga investigator and tell them who did this, and what the dna is, and how the bomb was made, and whether it has ever been seen before, and any variation of it, and the package itself speaks to postal inspectors to i say i have been through this process and i have sat next to this package as i waited for this next hub or spoke to move on. And literally, you will see the investigat investigators to see packages that sent next to the packages to interviewing them about who they may have seen drop it off. And already, we have seen in something that Pete Williams has demonstrated the excessive postage stamps, because they dont want to step foot into the
post office to have it metered accurately. And this is solvable, and it is going to be solved and the question is of timing, because for me, and the great unknown and we dont know yet whether these packages and bombs were capable of exploding. If the person knows how to do that and it would appear from the multiple packages and the little so far that the capability might be there, then this is the early phase of this actor, and this person is sending us a message, i know how to do this and i have done it successfully, and there will be a next phase if he is not caught. And so going out of the screen now, you will see the full screen on the left, and it is a Bomb Device Robot that you can just see it in the sunrise, florida, behind the trees there, and that is frank as you know best, one of the Robot Devices that would be used to try to grab the package and take it to a safe truck, correct . Yes. Ideally the whole purpose of this robot is nott to the thet
but to get the intact unexploded package, and every precaution is being taken and you will see the robotic devices utilized and in an extreme case, the controlled detonation if they feel that this thing cannot be contained, but they are looking for the intact device, andrea. And to ron allen in chappaqua, and we know that actually since 9 11, those who are protech protectees have not received mail at home, and that mail is always intercepted and screened through all kinds of devices before it is passed on. Exactly, andrea. And Major Corporations like ours in new york, washington, and i am sure around the country dont let mail come directly into anyones Office Without being screened in some way. That is the world we live in. It is a normal precaution, and that is what the Secret Service and others have been emphasizing what has happened over the past 24 hours or so that there are established protocols to detect things like this, and to stop things like this, and we dont know exactly how far they got along through the system. We know they were stopped in the case of the clintons and the obamas at a Sorting Facility or the screening facility somewhere, but as i was saying before in the case of george soros, that device apparently got directly to his doorstep literally almost, as we understand the facts of it. I am sure that someone of his stature is not going to let that happen again, and those mailboxes will be removed and a completely different process put in place after all of this. That is of course how the country continues to react when Something Like this happens, we have to change protocols to protect ourselves. In the case of cnn and nbc and
any Major Corporation that is involved in anything political, i am sure reviews under way to make sure that the protocols are adequate, and adequate safeguards in place. As you know, we go through all kinds c kinds of trainings from active shooters on the workplace to fires and now there was a time when we wo worried a about fi drill, and now we have to worry about bombing devices. And these devices never got anywhere near the clintons and the same for the obamas. The Secret Service here has a robust system in place, and it is even just unusual for us, the media, to be able to stand this close to the compound. We are usually down a road. This is a culdesac, and that is the level of protection that former president s and first
ladies get. Everyone doesnt get that. And of course that is the concern. That is the concern of the people who live in these communities that for now, this is targeting political figures apparently. But there is a concern of course about what could come next as always. Andrea. Ron allen in chappaqua. And joining us is Jeremy Peters of the new york times, and jeremy, you have been to a lot of the rallies and talk about some of the speech and some of the ways that you have seen these audience s ths this year reacting. It is not just been this year, andrea, but this started in the president ial campaign when he began to realize using these rallies as almost kind of focus groups for his messages that when he attacked the press and called us dishonest and liars and scumbags, he could get the audience riled up, and they would turn around and jeer us, and you know, at one point, i saw a reporterses laptop slammed down, and you know, fortunately, that is as violent as i saw, but still very
threatening and menacing, but lets not pretend as if the president didnt say or imply the other night that george soros was behind the funding for this caravan of migrants coming up that was about ready to invade the southern border of the United States, right. In the same speech in which the president said i have admiration for the guy who body slammed the reporter, and he has this is in the montana rally . So i dont think that you can pretend that these things are not connected when a bomb shows up at george soros house. He is not a household name, and it is not accurate to compare him to the Koch Brothers or the other republicans and sheldon adamson. He is a holocaust survivor, and
he is being accused of being the person behind the migrant care can van and so it not just targeting someone who is contribute n contributing to the campaigns, but he is euk neely vilified. And these Conspiracy Theories are elevated by the president of the United States who goes on twitter and repeats this at events and incites the followers to do things that are quite menacing. And as has been reported, Hillary Clinton, and felipe rfee is there to the campaigning for Debbie WassermaWasserman Schul democratic candidate donna shalala. You can see her thehead or clin
foundation to replace the Republican Congresswoman, and she has been under fire. And former hss secretary for two terms in the bill Clinton White house, and under fire after 20 years at the University Of Miami for not being better in touch with the community, the Hispanic Community and she does not speak sp spanish fluently, and under fire against a very telegenic former Hispanic Communiqcator the running for republicans. And we will go to hear from Hillary Clinton. Thank you all, very, very much. Before i begin, i want to the say a few words about the news this morning of suspicious
packages being sent to the various public figures and News Organization. Many of you and others across our country have asked after me and my family, and i am grateful for that. We are fine thanks to the men and women of the Secret Service who intercepted the package addressed to us long before it made its way to our home. Ev everyday we are grateful for their service and commitment and obviously, never more than today. But it is a troubling time, isnt it . And it is a time of deep divisions, and we have to do everything that we can to bring our country together. We also have to elect candidates who will try to do the same. Who will set goals that will lift up every single floridian and american, who will look into the future to understand what are the challenges that we have to meet today so that our children and our grandchildren have the quality of the life and the opportunities that we hope for them. Usually when people ask me how am i doing, which happens quite often, i say, well, as a person, im great. As an american, im worried. It is actually for the same reasons. Partly why i am so great is because with no offense to anyone, but i have the most fabulous grandchildren in the entire world. But because i do now have have
these precious people, i worry about the direction of our country, and i worry about what kind of world is going to be waiting for them when they are teenagers and young adults and beyond. So it is a special pleasure for me to be here to the support the candidates that you have running in florida. As you can see, Hillary Clinton is talking about the importance and a big thank you no the Secret Service, and the importance of bringing the country together at this difficult time, and Pete Williams, you have more news at the news desk in washington. Well, andrea, when Something Like this happens and certain devices are found, you wonder if others may have been sent, and now we are told that at least one other one was sent. We know for sure that, lets review. The one to george soros, the
clintons, the obamas, and the one sent to the cnn but addressed to former cia director john brennan, and we dont know for certain whether there is a package in florida or whether they are simply searching debbie w Wassermann Schultz office because her name is the return a address on these packages, but now they have intercepted another one sent to Attorney General eric holder. He is an attorney in private practice, and has been in the Justice Department at the end of the Obama Administration, and you can remember that he stepped down before the Obama Administration ended, and a p k package was addressed to him and intercepted before it was delivered and this is interesting because the ones sent to cnn and the ones sent to soros were not intercepted, but obviously, once the soros
package was found, there is an urgent effort by the Postal Service and all of the Postal Service delivery locations to be on the lookout for packages and one was intercepted sent to former Attorney General eric holder who has been an aggressive campaigner for the democratic causes and sometimes mentioned as a possible president ial candidate. It was never delivered to him. It was intercepted before it got anywhere near him at a mail Sorting Facility. Pete, repeat if i have missed this, but any similarity that we can report on yet, and this could be a Copycat Device or we dont know that . Well, i dont think that it is a copycat, because what i am told by several Law Enforcement officials and other sources is that the package had all of the earmarks of the others that we have been talking about here, and the same kind of packaging
and the same kind of address and content. So, there is a real aggressive search right now to make sure that all of the packages that are in the system are intercepted, and dealt with and sent to the fbi for analysis to see whether in fact any of them were working devices. Fortunately, none of them have gone off in the delivery system. They will be looking to why that is, but now itp appears anothe package and by the end of the day, probably word of perhaps one or two the others. Thank you, pete. Frank, the fbi has its hands full, and obviously they and Law Enfor Enforcement so far doing a superb job gratefully. This is going to be a real team approach. We have done it, and you is seen the fbi do this before, whether it is the unabomber or the serial bomber walt eer leroy moy
who killed a federal judge and civil rights attorney, and they have done it before, the postal inspectors and the fbi and the Secret Service, and the atf, and local and state and federal Law Enfor Enforcement will come together, and postal workers will have their eyes open for anything similar and they will have photos of what this package looks like, and what the earmarks are looking like. And they will have a distribution of all of the Democratic Party leadership and other high profile democratic operatives to be on the lookout and increase their security, and then there is going to be a profile developed, andrea, at quantico, virginia, and the folks there will come up with the profile. It is early yet, but we know some things about the typical serial bombers and mail bombers and they tend to be male. They tend to be somewhat keeping to themselves, but the the public needs to help here. I would not be surprised, soon, andrea, if the fbi publicizes a tipline and before they do that the public can call into to any local Fbi Field Office if they have suspicion, because someone there has been festering and someone has been talking about these individuals, and each of the individuals is high profile, and has been named or targeted in various President Trump rallies and speeches and someone may say, this sounds like what my neighbor has been saying, my coworker has been saying and even my Significant Other has been saying, and they have been alone building things in the shop or the garage or the basement, and they have rented space in which they want to do this and if this is matching someone that you are coming forward with that information, you need to come forward before this person enters a more violent phase. And joining us now, our former democratic congressman steve israel, and also
congressman david jolly, now declared independent. And as a Republican Congress canman from florida, speak to those who say, well, it has always been this way, and you heard Hillary Clinton thanking the Secret Service for protecting them as they have, and protecting the package and she said it is time to heal the deep divisions in the society. Is this politics as usual or is this Something Different . It not. No, there are moments in the American History that we remember like today and we saw the Anthrax Attacks if you will on capitol hill about ten years ago. Listen, this is still an active the Law Enforcement response situation where the priority is public s Public Safety and human safety and protection of life and trying to find the acts of a criminal who is acting outside of the civil discourse which even when politics can be intense, but still stays within the framework of legal dissent. And to your point, andrea, there
is a political can point, and it is hard to approach that in real time right now, and the reality is hard to suspend belief and not see the context of the of what is occurring today with the president who has repeatedly suggested that the press is the enemy of the people. And tweets that say not just the enemy of the president , but the enemy of the people themselves. It is hard to see this outside of the context of the president s hostility, hostility towards mrs. Clinton who tried to briefly speak towards unity and barack obama and toward george soros, and while these are the actions of the criminal and we cant not conflate that with the right of those who can participate on the ideological platforms on the right and the left, there is a hard political moment for the president to address the nation, and maybe as soon as tonight if he continues with the rally that is scheduled in wisconsin. Steve israel as a former congressman, you once headed the
campaign for the full cycle trying to elect democrats, and did you and the Democratic Candidates that you were fielding have to encounter the angry speech from either side . We saw a republican candidate for governor in pennsylvania talking about using golf spikes against the incumbent governor, and we have seen democrats going after the republicans in some instances, and chasing ted cruz and his wife out of a restaurant in washington at the height of the kavanaugh hearings. Andrea, never like this. There were attack the ads, but the candidates didnt get attacked, and they were not physically threatened. I agree with mr. Jolly that now there is license by the president of the United States, and not just going to the montana to endorse Body Slamming and neonazis and there are good people on both sides of the march including neonazis and
rememberb that the president of the the United States agreed to pay the legal bills of those who attacked the opponents, and one more thing, it is not just the president , but we have a bomb squad at cnn building in new york city today, and yesterday i was walking in new york city, and i passed the building where fox news is head quartered, and the ticker, the digital ticker that displays news in that the building was with reporting on the george soros bomb threat and it began with these words, for the man who has everything. Andrea, it is not funny, but it is dangerous. And not just the president who gives license, but those who are enabled by that violence, and there have the responsibility to to make sure that we are embracing values of peace and safety and not pouring gas on the flames which is happening too often in our society right now. And thanks to you and david jolly for pointing out that we have to be very careful about our speech, and that is including on social media, and that things that may be sounding
cute or funny are not in real life. A ali velshi is outside of cnn where you used to work, and and you know the Columbus Circle area there on hatch of the screen, and seeing the preparations for the nypd and the mayor and other officials and probably the fbi to be coming forward tukt ta investigation there. Ali . Yeah, within moments we are expecting to see the nypd, and atf, and fbi and from the nypd and the Deputy Commissioner and commissioner john miller who many will know as a former journalist, and the head of the Counter Terrorism and intelligence and he arrived here very early, and what we do know as you report odd on the air a while ago, the device has been removed from the building, but no one is allowed back into the building yet. Cnn and Law Enforcement are cooperating in another sweep of the building to make sure that there is nothing that anybody missed. As you know, it is addressed to john brennan, and wrong address, but it got into the cnn mail
room. So they are trying to figure out that there is nothing else in the building and with the news of the last hours of other devices around the country, nobody wants to take any risks, so is to the boss of cnn, jeff zucker said that you dont have to hang around or go back into building a and that i have conducted a sweep of buildings worldwide. This is a public facility as well, and Time Warner Center, and condominiums and shops, and it is closed now. Everybody is out of the building, and the police have opened up the corridor and 200 feet closer for the entrance of cnn and expecting this Press Conference very shortly, and the mystery going to be who has sent these packages and how fast they can trace the packages, and of course, what was in the packages. You have been reporting that there were people who said it is a pipe bomb with wires sticking out of it, and we dont have confirmation of it, but that is
what we are expecting to hear from the Press Conference and what it is, and where it is and who sent it and what happens x next and when they will open up the facility next. It is a remarkable thing, andrea, and i have worked at cnn for 12 years in this building, and we have never seen this situation. We have had fire alarms, but never a situation where a major News Organization had to evacuate the major center, because of Something Like this. And of course, what they would also be doing is to checking the entire cnn operation to make sure there is not some other package inside as well before they lett people back in. We can report now that something that we have been monitoring closely that there is a tweet from lilly adams who we know and we have checked the authorization of her twitter account. She is a spokesperson for kamal la harris in california and report that their office was evacuated today after there were suspicious packages, but not
delivered to her office, and they are thanking the San Diego Police department for their swift action, and that is on going on the west coast, and as Pete Williams reported the office of eric holder, the former Attorney General who has been an outspoken critic of this Administration Since he left the Attorney Generals Office and since President Trump was elected was also potentially targeted by a similar device. We see mayor de blasio and the police chief are approaching the mic microphones, and so we will go there to the Press Conference. All right. Good afternoon, everyone. I want to acknowledge besides the mayor and the governor and the partners from the fbi, and of course, the fdny and oem, and the State Commissioner and the state police and Secret Service, and today, nypd and all of the Law Enforcement offices reported
to Sugs Pish Shouse Pack and at cnn and the emergency Intel Services in the borough south conduct ed conducted a search of the building and evacuated the building. The officers found a device which appeared to be a live Explosive Device. Nypd bomb squad respond and secu secured the device to investigate. And there was an en velope with white powder also discover canned as part of the original packaging and we are in the middle of investigating that right now. The area has been swept with dogs and equipment and found no additional threats besides the white powder. In working with the Law Enforcement partners we have responded swiftly to secure the scene. Nypd is deploying resources around the city out of the abundance of caution. If you see something that is looking suspicious, call 911 and anyone with information about this incident today or in the
new york area please call 888n 888nycsafe. We have seen worse, and we will not be intimidated and we will bring these perpetrators to justice. Mr. Mayor . Thank you, commissioner. What we have seen today is an effort to terrorize, and this is clearly an act of terror, and attempting to undermine our free press and leaders of this country through acts of violence. I want to the make clear that the people of new york city will not be intimidated. That we are going to be going about our lives undeterred, because the very concept of terrorism is to change us, and we will not allow it to happen. You cannot be terrorized if you refuse to allow the terrorists to the win. The people of the city have shown time and again that they stand up in the face of these efforts to intimidate. I want to thank the people of new york city for the way they are handling this the situation today. I want ton thank the First Responders. Commissioner, to you and all of the men and women of the nypd and the extraordinary efforts today and fdny andfdny, state and federal poortartners. Everyone worked swiftly. I want to commend everyone at cnn for the professionalism with which they handled this very troubling incident. We at this time do not have other credible an specific threats against locations in new york city. I want to let all new yorkers know, you can go about your daily routine knowing the nypd and all these other agencies are here to protect you. Its important to note that this is ongoing investigation. As we have more information well provide it. There is no other specific threat against any other
location in the city at this time. The nypd an all of our partners reinforced the presence at key Media Locations around new york city and other important locations so you will see a lot more Police Presence. That should be reassuring to all new yorkers. Finally, i want to say this is a very painful time in our nation. Its a time when people are feeling a lot of hatred in the air. And incidents like this exacerbate that pain and that fear. We cannot let the acts of a very few change who we are. Its really important at a moment like this to remember. The vast majority of americans, the vast majority of new yorkers are good people trying to live in peace with each other. There are a few people, we dont know who they are today, but there are a few people trying to
tear us apart through acts of violence. It is imperative that we ensure they fail. It is imperative that we act as the good and decent people that we are. This is a moment in history as painful but it will pass. This, too, shall pass. But today, the important point is everyone can rest assured the nypd and all other agencies are out in force to protect the people of this city and to make sure that they can go about their lives safely. Thank you. Governor cuomo . Thank you. Thank you, mayor. Thank you, commissioner. First, lets remember that we have the best police force and the best Law Enforcement agencies on the globe. And we want to thank the nypd and the state police and the fbi and the joint Terrorism Task force, the Secret Service. All who have worked seamlessly
together and are coordinated and we should take comfort in that level of professionalism that we have in this city. And in this state. As everyone is aware, there have been a number of packages that have been received. Last night there was the Secret Service detected a package at the residence of president clinton and Hillary Clinton. They notified the state police and the nypd. We personally checked on the president s residence in chappaqua at about 4 30 this morning and everything was fine there. This morning, obviously, we have the cnn package and i want to echo the professionalism with which cnn has handled the
situation. And the cooperation that they brought to the situation. So i would like to thank them for that. This is the world we live in. Terrorism, the attempt to spread fear is the world that we live in. It is heightened lately. The mayors exactly right. There are more tensions than usual. But this is the world we live in. Also, a little perspective. The first Terrorist Attack in new york city was 1993. 25 years ago. Was the bombing of the world trade center. So in some ways this is nothing new. We have lived with this for a long time. Actually, my father was governor at that time. This has been a circumstance of being who we are and where we are. We are new york and we are an International Icon and for some an international target. Terrorism only works if you let it work. What they are trying to do is scare us and destabilize us and we will not allow that to happen. We are new yorkers. We are smart. We are tough. We are resilient. And we will not allow these terrorist thugs to change the way we live our lives. They fail unless we allow them to win. And we will not allow them to win. Now, as the commissioner said, youll see increased police
presence from the nypd, from the state police, from the Port Authority police. You shouldnt be alarmed. There will be more police on subways, more police on the streets. More police at crossings. As the mayor said, thats not because we know any specific threat. It is just a precaution. Because we are smart. And because we have the best talent on the globe when it comes to this. So we will take every precaution we can. But we will not let terrorism win. Not today. Not ever. Thank you. Good afternoon. I have with me Special Agent in charge brian paarmann, Special Agent in charge of the fbis joint Terrorism Task force here in new york city. As the governor outlined, this
begins on monday night with a package that was delivered to a residence in Westchester County. That was responded to by the Westchester County police, the Bedford Police and fbi Special AgentBomb Technicians, that package was disrupted and taken to the fbi lab. Overnight, late last night, we received word of the package that was delivered to the clinton residence or was intercepted before delivery to the clinton residence in chappaqua, new york. Thats also going to the fbi lab. After that, we were notified by the Secret Service that they had received a nearly identical package in washington addressed to the obamas. At that point, we began to take additional proactive steps. We had gone to locations the day before, associated with the first individual who was targeted. Today we went out to office of of elected officials, media outlets, television and, in
fact, when the package was discovered here in the cnn mail room, we had nypd personnel present who were showing them what these look like and what to be on the lookout for. So, at this point, we are talking with other Fbi Field Offices, the jttf, about other incidents that are unfolding in other places. But suffice it to say it appears that an individual or individuals sent out multiple similar packages. We have been working with Corporate Partners and the private sector. We have prepared a product through the Nypd Shield Program which goes to approximately 20,000 of our private Security Partners instructing them on what to look for, what the characteristics are, and renewed tips on handling of suspicious packages. At this point, were at a very early stage in the investigation. This is being led by the joint
Terrorism Task force here in new york city. W the fbi, the nypd. We have had asis tans from the new York State Police and bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms so its a big group effort. The incident here today once the package was discovered, Emergency Service was notified. They called The Bomb Squad. The bomb squad was able to safely remove a device contained in that package using the total Containment Vessel or the bomb truck. That is gone to the range at rodmans neck where Bomb Technicians will work with our people on how to get it to the next stop and should be the fbi lab so all of the evidence can be examined together. There is an additional issue which is being worked on now which is within the package that contained the suspected device