Doesnt have a Mailing Address of somebody you know because of those false alarms inhibit Law Enforcements ability to actually focus their resources, is actually reach out and find information that will help you make more informed decisions. Michael, tom, thank you so much. Im signing off right now. And i hand off to Hallie Jackson who picks up our breaking News Coverage right now. We are sticking with that story. For the third day this week, we are leading with Breaking News, two more suspicious packages within the last hour or so now discovered, one addressed to are cory booker. And the other to James Clapper. We are on both scenes live. This makes now the 11th and 12th packages discovered this week targeting democrats and other critics of President Trump. The president getting constant updates on what is developing
this morning. According to his press secretary. We will see him at the white house within the next hour and 45 minutes. And here on this show, well speak with two people on both sides of the aisle including a congressman dealing with his own serious death threat. But first, lets get to our analysts breaking do you know the lknow down the fast moving developments. Lets start with are a hrehema. Weve been looking at that shot of the Containment Vehicle essentially. What are you seeing there . Reporter i can tell you that only about 50 yards behind where im standing here on 52nd and corner of 8th avenue, there is this Containment Vehicle. It looks a bit like a cement mixing truck, a very small one. And that is the vehicle that they intend to bring this suspicious package out of this postal facility and place it inside that vehicle and then take it over to the bronx where they have a facility where they can check this out more thoroughly before they send it
down to quantico at the fbi facility there. As you point out, this is the 12th package that shorts have found in the last few days. This at a postal facility because the postal workers were doing exactly what we hoped that they would do. They were being cautious and they were alert. They saw something that looked suspicious. We suspect that it is very similar in the packaging that we have seen before. Meaning the same kind of material, the same kind of stamps. And this one with similar Return Address we believe, but this one this time addressed to James Clapper, forge e clapper former director of national intelligence. And it was supposed to go to the cnn offices just a few blocks up the street. James clapper talked about this a few moments ago. Take a listen. I do want to just echo one thing that john brennan said. And that is this is not going to silence the administrations
critics. I think anyone who has in any way been a critic of publicly been a critic of President Trump needs to be on stextra alert an take precautions particularly with respect to mail. Reporter indeed because authorities are telling us thus far all these packages have been mailed to democrats or people who have been outspoken in terms of their criticism against President Trump. So just yesterday authorities here in new york mentioned that they are alerting people in the area that they should also be very cautious. Authorities also pointed out that they have had an increase in tips of 139 of people calling in arntd saying that they are suspicious of something, but also offering whatever kind of tips they can to authorities. When it happened here, that this package was identified, i have to tell you, it was pandemonium
in the area because a fire truck came streaming down this Street Screeching with its fire alarm blaring. And people ran afraid for what might be about to happen here. People are on edge. Mayor de blasio pointed out this is indeed terrorism because people have been frightened by what has been happening. Stick around. I want to check in quickly as you look at that bomb truck, nbc news Investigator Tom Winter on the phone, i know with your sources talking with members of Law Enforcement as you are looking live now at that shot, tom, what are you hearing about not just what is going on in manhattan, but you also in florida in opalocka, that mail center there where this package addressed to are Cocory Booker found. And this is believed to be the same batch of suspected devices
that was sent originally. That is a good question and one that we are still trying to get our arms around. We dont know at this point whether or not the packages that have been discovered today and we first learned about that package found in florida addressed to cory booker, to an address in camden, new jersey. We first learned about that a little bit after 8 00 a. M. This morning. And then after that, we started to get reports that the nypd was heading towards this Mail Facility here in manhattan. We dont know for sure that these were mailed at the same time as the ten other packages that weve been talking about here for the last several days. That is something that were trying to get insight and clarity into at this point. Of course they could have been mailed at different times earlier in the week and that is why they are still filtering through. These are odd shaped packages. We have got some questions from
people why are some of them not postmarked. When you have them kind of misshapen package, and remember there is a 1 by 6 inch piece of pvc pipe contained within these padded manila enenvelopes, sometimes in the machine cant automatically do it, postal workers themselves will sort them by hand and make sure that they get to the proper destination. So pause on that point because i think that is an important one. So just because there is not a Postmark Didnt Mean Oesnt Mea delivered through the mail system . That is exactly right. So that is why when people look at the pictures of these packages, they have asked as to why there is not specific markings on it. That is the reason why. So we are just trying to get a handle on if these packages have just been working their way through the mail system. We know from the package sent to eric holder that package was destined for him, but it was turned around and returned and it went to Debbie Wasserman schultzs office. She is the person whose return
name and address has been on each one of these packages that have been sent so far. And that is what caused the commotion at her office earlier this week. But that was actually addressed to eric holder. So that plaexplains a little bi some of the confusion with how they have worked their way through the mail system. But Law Enforcement people that ive talked to, Pete Williams has talked to, Jonathan Dienst has talked to, they have all been clear that all of these packages went through the mail and at this point as we first reported here yesterday Law Enforcement people are looking to see whether some or all of them were actually mailed from the state of florida. So that is something that is being looked at closely at this point. And obviously as we continue to get packages and devices, the vehicle that you are looking at on the left, even if that bomd went obomd bomb went off, all the evidence would be contained. And the more packages that law
enforcement is able to get, the more opportunities they have to get evidence and get clues that could lead them to the person or people that wheare doing this. So that is the key focus of this investigation. We dont have an indication that they are looking at any specific individual, but these investigations are fast moving and can change on a dime. On the left side, you talked about that in Effect Bomb Truck essentially. Over the last 24 hours or even less, investigators have narrowed in on this postal facility in opalocka. Explain how they have to now backtrack to try to figure out who is behind this. Yeah, i think one of the things, if they can start to find out which mail receiving centers and i was talking with Pete Williams about this last night. He reminded me that these major mail receiving centers, depending upon where mail or a package is supposed to go,
different kind of Distribution Warehouses if you will receive these packages. And then from there, they send them along to other Distribution Centers and then obviously it trickles down the chain if you will to get to your house or to a specific business. So if it is going to a specific regional distribution center, that gives them a little bit of a better handle as far as where the package may have been coming from and where it may go to. So that will allow them conceivably to start to develop a little bit of a picture of potential sites where these packages could enter the mail stream. And so i think that is right now i know that is a key focus of what the fbi and the joint Terrorism Task forces in new york and florida are working on. Lets stay on that, as we take a look at that Containment Vehicle in police terms making its way to the facility in the bronx. Thats what you are looking at. That is the highway leading out to that direction in new york. But down in florida, plenty of
activity as well. That is where we find Kerry Sanders who is in opalocka. Bring us up to speed on what youve seen in the last little bit. Reporter well, let me just confirm first of all that the fbi has discovered the bomb, number 11, which was headed to center cory booker at the facility right here where im standing. It was at around 11 00 last night when they decided to evacuate this gigantic facility here because of the discovery. The local Miamidade Police department had bombsniffing dogs here and along with bomb technicians. And that package was taken out. They have resumed operations here, but obviously very keen eyes on everything that is going through. And understand the size of this facility, at least a half million or more packages a day come through this facility. This is not like your normal post office. It is not where you go to buy stamps on or you drop off the mail yourself. This is a Sorting Facility. And packages that are sent from as far north as ft. Pierce, florida to arrest far south as key west, a population of around 7 million people, that is where all the mail is sorted if it is a package. Now, one challenges here has been because these packages were bulky, the stamps were not canceled. And of course the Cancellation Marks would show where they were initially dropped off. But the authorities are say be even though they would like to trace back to where the packages began their journey within the mail system, it doesnt necessarily lead to the suspect or suspects because somebody could simply have driven into this region, this zone, dropped it off and then driven right back out. But it is all part of the investigation. And they are really hopeful. Think about how difficult this is. The fbi is talking to employees that work here every day, a sea
of packages going past them. They are hoping that somebody saw something in those labels that sort of stuck out and made them now think about it and hopefully will provide amore information. But it is a clear indication that no box is being left unchecked on this one here. That is for sure. Thank you so much, Kerry Sanders there live for us in florida. Jeff sessions the Attorney General is speaking now in washington addressing these suspected devices. He says that the Department Of Justice is working tirelessly and will find out who did this. And also in d. C. , Pete Williams who has been all over this story. Were now up to 12 suspected devices that have been sent through the mail, delivered to people who have been either critics of the president or rhetorical targets of the president and right wing media. This is a fairly big number, no . Well, sure. There have been serial bombers
in the past and were getting up into the numbers that some of these serial bombers in the past. But these are concentrated in a very short time frame. And one question of course is are these all from a single mailing and they are just trickling out and being found, or is the person still sending them. We dont know the answer to that. And what complicates it is the fact that you may recall the first package was discovered monday at the home of george soros in new york. And then tuesday night, intercepted on the way to the Hillary Clinton address in new york. And then wednesday morning on the way intercepted to the obamas. And then all the others that started to be discovered on friday rather on wednesday beginning with the one to john brennan addressed at cnn. So the problem is that some of these packages have gone toward their intended addressee, for example the ones to biden, but then are were refused either because of a bad address or insufficient postage and were working their way back. So the biden ones were found on the backwards journey, not the outbound journey. So it is a little hard to tell exactly when. The fact that this was found in opalocka, i think that they will know whether that was in the inbound chain, just recently received from a post office that feeds in there, or was it coming back. I would think that they would know the answers shortly to that question. And that will be an important question. But florida is of interest for lots of reasons. They know now that some of these packages were sent from florida, some if not all. Some of the packages were canceled. And im told from our social media people that were getting lots of questions about why is the post office delivering some of these packages when you can tell from looking at the envelopes that they werent canceled, that they werent postmarked. And the answer to that is, what were told by authorities, that
odd shaped packages like these dont go through any kind of sorting machine. And in some cases they would be canceled or stamped with a postmark, handstamped, but in some cases they dont bother, they just push them through. So that is why you dont see cancellations or postmarked on all of these packages. But in any event, because of the postmarks and other reasons, they have been able to trace these packages to florida. And they are doing interviews with people in florida now, not just postal workers, but other people that they believe may have important nformation impor the investigation. And im being told that we have some images coming in from chris jansing. I believe that is the right side of your screen. You mentioned that there is still the question as to whether this was sort of one batch or a new batch. If this person is still dropping off device at a Mail Facility,
that is good news for police because that is a way that they can catch them. Absolutely. Bombers have been captured in the past by looking at Surveillance Video and catching them in the act. But im relatively certain that you cannot put a parcel like this, the post office wont deliver a parcel like this if you drop it into the blue boxes on the street. So i think one question we have to look at here is whether whoever is mailing these would have to walk into a post office or could put them into a drop box on the street if they have to drop them into the post office facility, just walk in and stick them in the big slot or open the Big Dwraur Thrawer S into the local delivery thing. That would give them important Surveillance Video. If takes b if it is a box on the street, that is more complicated. But they can trace back to a route where things get mailed. We saw that in the anthrax investigation. But were told that they have a number of leads that they are purchase you s pursuing in florida. Tom winter, you wanted to jump in. And i know there are questions about the lefthand side of the screen, this truck pulling the total containment vessel. And as i was explaining before if people that see this on a public highway and say should there be any sort of concern, a bomb that is many more times powerful could go off inside of there and we could be looking at it live and have no indication of it whatsoever. It has the ability to really withstand a lot with the added benefit obviously that if the bomb did go off inside of there,
all the evidence would be contained within there, there would be no threat to the public. So this is a really safe way of getting this device from the location on 52nd street in manhattan up to the nypd facility in the bronx. You see there that there is a police escort. Obviously you dont want other are cams around it, you dont want an sdiincident involving t truck. So the nypd is providing an escort. But they will be getting off on the exit ramp now. This facility is very impressive. Basically it is located on a tip of an area in the bronx not far across the sound from laguardia airport. There are numerous stations if you will or numerous ranges where different Law Enforcement agencies as well as obviously the nypd primarily can take target practice, can do training. Just for officers on the street, brand new officers all the way up to some of the most
experienced sniper teams that the nypd has as part of emergency services. The Strategic Response group, they are part of normal control. The Critical Response command which are the heavy weapons tea teams, they have more of a counterterrorism mission. They are all part of the groups that train there as well as squads. So it is a very robust facility. And they can handle any sort of these type of devices. Tom, thank you. And somebody who knows quite a bit about where this vehicle, where this bomb truck is headed a bill bratton. Ghigs n commissioner, thank you very much for being with us. Weve learned that in roughly 30 minutes, we expect to hear from new York City Police, they will be giving a briefing as to what is going on in Midtown Manhattan at that postal facility where the package addressed to jamgs
cl James Clapper has been found. The other package addressed to cory booker was found in florida. And you are looking at the total containment investigational. Commissioner, tell us about what happens thousannow. When the truck arrives at the facility, what are they doing to figure out what this is and who is behind it. That bomb vehicle that you see is one of several that the department has. Weve seen several different styles of them over the last several days. The at the facility where The Bomb Squad has their detonation capability, that device will be removed from that vehicle and moved into an fbi vehicle, similar type to get that then down to quantico where it will be analyzed. The initial lab analysis will
take part at robins neck, but the actual taking that twidevic apart will be done at quantico. So it will be moved down to quantico. The fbi is the lead agency on this investigation. And also has more significant analysis capabilities. The Press Briefing that you just mentioned, i would not anticipate any new news other than an update on the two devices, where they were found. Good news is that all of the attention to this seems to be working out that were now detecting these devices in process. The postal people are looking very careful now at these envelopes that all seem to be so similar. And we heard rehema ellis describe with what she saw there on the ground in Midtown Manhattan when the fire truck for example started coming through, people running, people on edge, people looking and feeling scared. That is a tricky place for new
yorkers to be. What is your message to people in that city and frankly around the country who might be feeling on edge right now . Echoing the sentiments expressed by the mayor, Police Commissioner there in new york specifically, there is no place that is more sophisticated than dealing with this. You need to be coming gnizant o surroundings, but the idea of fear, the devices have accomplished that. They are creating a significant amount of fear. A fear that may be really out of scale to the actual threat. These are very specific devices being specifically located. So the widespread fear unfortunately, they have to evacuate a whole building. Commissioner, thank you so much. I want to turn now to somebody in florida, congressman carlos
c carbel carbello. The President Trump has tweeted about immigration and twitter bias and now he writes republicans are doing so well in early voting at the polls and now this, quote, bomb stuff happens and the momentum greatly sl slows. News not talking politics. Very unfortunate, republicans go out and vote. Congressman, you faced a death threat this week by somebody on social media. Thank you very much for being with us. Can you latyou hear me okay . If to be wigood to be with y. And i have to ask you when this tweet from the president who seems to indicate frustration that the news in his words is not talking politics. And instead covering these developments of suspicious devices addressed to senator cory booker and James Clapper. He says very unfortunate, republicans go out and vote. What do you make of that . Well, what is unfortunate is that our politics have become so violent. And i dont think anyone whether the president or nancy pelosi or Chuck Schumer should try to politicize what is a terrible situation. And for me this is somewhat personal. My family had to leave their country because of Political Violence. Here in this community in South Florida, there are millions of people hwho had to leave their country because of Political Violence. What is happening in our country is far more important than the result of any election. And i think this Divide And Conquer strategy has to stop. Both sides are guilty of it. I had colleagues shot at at a practice for a baseball game. My family had to deal with a death threat that i received on twitter. That individual has been arrested thankfully. It doesnt look like it was
serious, but you have to take all these threats seriously these days. This is just unfortunate. And you talked about taking everything seriously. Do you believe President Trump is doing that . I think clearly by this tweet today he is distracted and he is focused on politics. And i think what we should all focus on is healing this country. Because ill tell you what, no matter who wins this election in 11 days, if we dont heal this country, if republicans and democrats dont stop treating each other as the enemy, if we dont start treating members of the en if the media doesnt stop rewarding those who say radical things by putting them on tv 24 7, if none of that stops, it really Doesnt Matter who wins elections because our politics will continue deteriorating. Younger voters will lose even more trust and confidence in our institutions. And that is how democracy dies. And i can tell you that from Family Experience because my family lost their country and we
cant lose this country. We have to fight for it. And we have to demand that everyone do better. Politicians and also everyday citizens. In our expressions to each other, in the way we debate and disagree, we have to do better. You mentioned that this is personal for you. And a 19yearold was arrested yesterday after threatening you on twitter the same day that we learned about some of the suspicious devices sent to for example Midtown Manhattan addressed to Robert De Niro and others. This is hitting close to home. So have you boosted Security Apparatus around you and your family and what are you hearing from State Officials there in florida given that these packages had a fake Return Address we presume and that the Mail Facility in opalocka is now the center of this investigation . So im Great Itfitfuateful T and the Police Department because they all responded immediately to this threat that i severed. The individual was identified really within an hour i think. And then of course local Law Enforcement here in South Florida is clab blating with the fbi trying to figure out what is the issue with these explosives and what their connection might be to our area here it is unfortunate that South Florida is getting so much attention for this because this is such sad chapter and such a sad time for our countrys politics. But yes, our Law Enforcement officials are fully engaged and we should all be very grateful to them because although some politicians arent taking this as seriously as they should, these officers certainly are. Congressman, thank you so much for joining us. I hope you come back and talk midterms once we get past this developing coverage. Appreciate it. I want to show you new images just in. This is the package well pull it up on screen here that was addressed to James Clapper, one of the suspicious devices. You can see it here. It was found discovered at this Mail Facility, this postal
facility on 52nd street in manhattan. That is where the bomb truck that you saw rolling through the Streets Of New York City have been coming from. You can take another look at it there. It is headed to that Bronx Facility where investigators will be able to pick it apart, search for evidence, look for any clues about the person or people who may be responsible for this. Let me go back to rehema ellis who is right in midtown. In about 20 minute, well get a briefing from the police dech department, right . Reporter we certainly hope so. There has been a change in the level of activity. Several of the Emergency Vehicles have left the area. One of The Bomb Squad vehicles has left the area. I cannot tell whether or not that tcv vehicle which is the cement mixerlike truck that would have had the package placed inside of it, i cant tell from where im standing
whether that has left. But it appears that it has because of the level of activity are a i have to interrupt yo. Were having an and you hd i do. We audio issue. Well get back to you. Let me bring in now charles marino, former secret special agent. And frank, as this Investigation Centers on this Mail Facility in florida, what does that tell you about whether investigators may be able to go from here and putting the pieces together to try to find out who is behind this . That is a great way of putting it because this is just a big jig saw puzzle right now. And with 12 packages, the information about the facility in florida, they are starting to put together a lot of these pieces. And it is an important part of this investigation right now because that Processing Center receives mail from all over the
place. And i think it was Pete Williams that talked about how these packages could be there because they were returned or because they were being sent out. They can determine things like that. And that may help them focus on points of origin as far as where these packages are coming from. So it is a great start point or continuation point for this investigation in terms of trying to identify where these packages are coming from, when they were sent out, are they being staggered, were they sent out all at one time. So it really is an important part of the process. Charles, you heard the congressman tell us that the full power of Law Enforcement is being brought to bear on this investigation. And to people who may be at risk here, notably political figures, talk about from the secret Service Perspective what they may be doing differently now today than they might have last week when it comes to their protectees. Yeah, i think the secret
service is doing what they do every day and that is paying attention to the current threat environment and adjusting as needed. Obviously they are paying very close attention to all the Threat Intelligence that may be developing in association with what is going on today. I think it is fair to say that oftentimes in these cases were not dealing with sane people that are behind these acts. And sometimes one act, in this case the mail bombs, may bring out others that may exhibit threatening behavior in different ways. So they are paying to all of that. As far as the physical protection goes, they will maintain the high alert that they do each and every day. R leg everybody up to speed about that 10 30 eastern time, compla7 30 west. Two more suspicious packages have been found. One addressed to cory booker,
enter superintendented at intercepted at a Mail Facility in florida. And the other package was found in new york city. The package in this morning was addressed to James Clapper. That makes 12 total packages found in the last week all targeting democrats orri icriti of President Trump. The president is receiving constant information about this. We know he has period from the fbi, dhs. And the president is tweeting about what he calls the, quote, bomb stuff saying that the news is not talking politics, slowing the momentum when it comes to the ramp up ahead of the midterms. That is where we are at this moment in time. Heres what we expect in the next little bit. One, we will matter from new york city officials about what is happening in midtown as you take a look at that bomb truck
taking that device up to a facility to be investigated. And would he working with our team and sources here to find out more information specifically about when these packages, when these suspicious devices may have been sent. What do investigators know about the timing of that and who might be behind this. Michael, youve briefed president s, president bush sesk sesk specifically, about issues such as this. What do you think is happening in the west wing this morning . I think that the National Security adviser and folks who do counterterrorism are trying to get into the president and give him periodic real time briefings on the state of the investigation. I think that the fbi director has likely made a trip or two to the west wing or i certainly hope he has what you i think th i think because he is and we understand the deputy
has been leading the charge. You got it. The acting national deputy. So i think that the fbi director if he hasnt gone over, i hope he will very, very soon. Because you i think that he is the chief on what is going on around the country now. And we understand that in addition to apartments and restaurants on 52nd street in new york, the postal facility is across from a school that has been evacuated, and that is where we expect that the presser will be happening. That is on the upper right hand corner of your screen. On the left you are looking at a wide shot from above new york city, that is the chopper that has been following the bomb truck. And in the bottom right is the scene on 52nd in Midtown Manhattan. And again, that is where the package addressed to James Clapper was found. Michael, weve heard officials talk about how this has been in their view an act of terror. It is meant to scare people. It is meant to freak people out. It certainly is temperature i mean it is definitely a domestic
terrorist. It reminkds me in the International Counterterrorism context, when we talk about homegrown terrorists who become radicalized. It is almost impossible detect when someone like that goes from disgruntled to dangerous, but certainly this individual has. And no doubt they will catch him. The fbi almost always gets its man. But there is definitely a lot of activity now around the country working with the Postal Inspection Service to try to get a good fingerprint or a good beat on someone who put these devices together. And are nwe are now up to 12 these packages in a pretty short period of time. It certainly is. I mean it is certainly meant to inspi
inspire a great deal of fear. Republicans arent immune to this either, but certainly a lot of people who have been outspoken about the president are really, real nervous today and deservedly so. This is designed to frighten and im afraid when we see a bomb truck going down the highway in new york, this is a vivid image that will stick with us for a while. Andbratton understand that they have to go about their business. And we know in opalocka, florida, investigators are zeroing in here on that location as a place of interest clearly. It is not like a post office where we go to mail letters or buy stamps. This is a Sorting Facility. And so what is your expectation now of how close investigators might be to catching whoever is
behind this . I think that they are getting very, very close. I think because nothing here really in particular blew up, i think that they will be able to lift a print or lift some sort of dna that they might be able to begin to run against a variety of databases. And i think that they would also run it against individuals who might have come up on the radar screen of a joint Terrorism Task force because this person, this individual, very likely may have said something or done something either on line or maybe had done some sort of physical vandalism or who knows what, sent letters to members of congress. Ive worked up on the hill for years and, man, do you ever get a lot of scary letters up there. And members of congress usually turn those over to the right people. So i think that there are probably a lot of investigative techniques that are at play today and i wouldnt be surprised to see this person
getting w getting wrapped up pretty soon. And you bring up on you none of the devices went off. That is true. Officials dont seem to know whether they were put together never intending to go off or whether they were intended to go off but simply didnt due to bad construction. Can you explain why that is important. To me it i it is not as impo because i think it is designed to frighten. Maybe it becomes an attempt rather than an actual concrete act, but i dont know whether the president is signaling that he already knows that these werent actually designed to go off because his most recent tweet put bomb in quotes. Sometimes he telegraphs like he did sort of with saudi arabia announcements, he sort of telegraphs what is coming next. So that definitely caught my eye on his tweet and well have to wait and see. I dont think it matters to us
that are offended by this, but it may make some difference in what this individual eventually gets charged with. And let me bring frank and charles back into the conversation. The officials said if you see Something Weird in the mail, definitely say something. There are a massive amount of packages september through the po sent through the Postal Service every day. What advice do you have for folks . The Postal Service has a comprehensive security program, if you will. That starts with their employees. And making sure that they are well trained in both the physical inspection of packages and letters, and that if anything suspicious is discovered, they can take to the next level which is then the technological inspection of these packages. Same holds true for the american
public. If you are not expecting something or something does not look right, a misshapen package, excessive postage where somebody wants to not have to confront somebody, a postal worker in person to submit a package, but instead wants s over wants over compensate with the package, and misspellings, all of those things the same way the postal inspectors are training their Postal Office personnel are the same things that the American People should be looking for. If something doesnt look right, then they should contact the local authorities because they may be providing information to those working on the current investigation. Hopefully there are no more devices in the mail system, but as we all know, we dont have a time line yet from the Postal Inspection Service as frank
alluded to. This is going to be very important to see when these devices were entered into the postal system and how long it has beaeeen delayed. Or are these two new ones that were introduced into the system recently. A critical question and work that our teams are working to find out. And i want to go back to Kerry Sanders. On the Return Address, it was Debbie Wasserman schultz and she is meeting with voters this morning down in florida. Were monitoring that to see what she is saying. What are you seeing where you are . Reporter Debbie Wasserman schultz did comment last night about how painful and divisive of a situation this has become. Because clearly these packages look as if they are directed specifically to those who were democrats and critics of president donald trump. As we are waiting to hear her specific comments today where
shes doing some early voting about a 45 minute drive from where i am, here at this mail Sorting Facility in opalocka, we can confirm because the fbi has told us that the 11th package bomb that was addressed to center are cory booker from new jersey was located here. It was around 11 00 last night when they evacuated the building. The miamidade bomb unit was here along with bhombsniffing dogs to help. Around 4 00 in the morning, they finally cleared the facility and allowed people to return to work. But those who are now working on one of these three shift, understand that there are more than a half million packages a day that come through here, those who have returned are of course watching very closely and concerned that there could be still more Package Bombs in this stream of packages that come through here. The authorities are not giving us the specifics of what they are doing that is different than normal to look for potentially
more bombs in the mail, but they clearly understand that number 11 that was found here and number 12 that was found elsewhere in new york, that there could still be more in the system. And so they are being very, very cautious, everybody is on high alert. Kerry sanders down in opalocka, thank you. Kelly odonnell is at the white house. And in about an hour, we will hear from the president. He is at a leadership conference. We know that he has talked about it on twitter along with immigration and twitter bias. And you have some new reporting on Attorney General Jeff Sessions. What can you tell us . Reporter officials tell me that the Attorney General is not keeping to his planned schedule which would have taken him to kentucky today. And instead, im told to expect to see the Attorney General at the white house today. They say that his personnel, sort of the whole package that
would go with the Attorney General, they are just leaving those available for anything related to the mail bomb investigation. That is what officials are saying about the change in Jeff Sessions schedule. He is expected here according to officials. Ive reached out to the white house as well to find out anything more about what sort of an interaction that could be. As we know often when cabinet level officials come to the white house complex, that does not mean that they are meeting with the president necessarily. But it is a developing situation. And often we also get some sort of a heads up if the president when would have a planned public event like you referred to, if he would use in a pulpit for an opportunity to give the nation an update on any Breaking News of the day or developing situations. We see that often. We dont get know if he will do that. The tweet of course is the most immediate way to know what the president is thinking. And as you had in your conversation, the quotes around the word bomb struck me very much as well. The president often does give clues about things that are on his mind and in his sort of frame of reference. So is he somehow casting doubt on this and how it affects the election. Of course he talked in that tweet about how this could slow kelly, im sorry to interrupt you. Debbie Wasserman Schultz is talking about this and we want to listen to that. Troubling,sinister. And ive been in close touch with every level of Law Enforcement and they are on top of it making sure that they throw all the resources of the United States. Ive been told by the fbi that this is their highest priority and they are on top of it and making sure that they can get to the bottom of who did this. Why you would think you of all people would be on the
Return Address and at the center of all of this. I really dont though. A i dont know. All i know, an attack on any one of us, the use or potential use of any of us that are serving the public or anyone for that matter, to attempt to harm people, it is horrific and not something that we will tolerate. Whoever did this, you will be found, you will be prosecuted. And you will not knock us down. You will not stop us from making sure that we can continue to do the work that we do every day. And im so proud of my staff who were right rite back in our district i have on the office the next day. We did not change our schedule and im so lucky to have the people working for me that i do and my stitd constituents are a. You say you wont be
intimidated by this. Do you think this was an Intimidation Factor with the midterm elections . You know, it is very difficult to it is very difficult to know what someone who is clearly insane and who was that much of a madman, mad woman, whoever this is, anybody who could do it, it is impossible for ascribe motives. They need to understand that they will be found and prosecuted. What do you think about the president s response to all of this . You know, this is a time when no matter what your political persuasion, we need to turn the volume down. We need to have a civil discourse. We need to be talking with one another. I regularly reach across the aisle to my colleagues, work with them on a daily basis, play softball to help breast cancer
survivors on the same team as my female republican colleagues. Because they are not the enemy. And none of us should be treating our opponents like they are the enemy. Every one of us should lead by example. Has your security changed in any way since all of this has happened . What can you share with us about that . Were making sure that question have the utmost safety, were working with Law Enforcement to ensure not only that im protected, but that my constituents who i interact with every day are protected and my staff is safe. And so i cant get in to the details, but there are certainly Safety Measures being taken here and being used. [ Inaudible Question ] that is not something that i can talk about. More threats than usual . I really cant get in to the details. Id refer you to Law Enforcement. The other thing i want to sorry, if i can grab we do want to make sure that we give the fbi tip line. So what we want to make sure that we get out there, this is on an ongoing active investigation. And what the fbi has asked us to do is encourage people if you see something, say something. Please make sure that you contact no detail is too small or seemingly insignificant. 1800callfbi. Consistent with other devices weve seen this week, contained in a package, consistent with the packaging that weve seen this week, it was addressed to an individu an individual at a location in manhattan. The bomb squad was able to safely remove that package with the device intact and transport it under Highway Escort to tnyp
range where it will be placed in a secure storage area for the fbi who will then transport it along with the other suspected devices weve seen suspected des weve seen this week to the fbis lab in quantico. With me i have chief of Patrol Rodney Hairson and Deputy Assistant chief frank gallo from the Fire Department and Chief Harrison will address the logistics of this operation. So once we were notified about the device, we put a frozen zone in place. We evacuated a couple of the residents as well as the educational facility, which was right across the street as well as the post office. At this time now since the device has been removed, everything will be back up in play and up and running. As you can see, the streets are moving and we want to ask all
new york City Residents who continue to stay alert, and if you do see something, call 1888new york city safe. Thank you. We had no injuries, but were here to support our partners in the nypd and Law Enforcement. Just a Housekeeping Matter for those of you who are aware of it, there was another suspicious package operation involving a suspicious box that was found leaning against a tree in central park. Thats been resolved. It is not connected to this or similar to this. It is also contains nothing hazardous. So that has also been resolved if you were following the developments in that end. I want to especially commend the work of the postal inspectors but also the work of the 600,000 postal employees across the country who have been working within the postal system to
locate these packages before theyre delivered and to alert authorities, and this is an example operate of one postal worker who when she saw this recognized it, and was able to resolve that before it got delivered to a location in manhattan. So very good work here. Were not going to be able to take questions, but thank you very much. Thank you, commissioner. Thank you. A brief update there from new York City Police officials talking about what they describe as the frozen zone that is now in place in Midtown Manhattan surrounding the area where that postal facility is. Thats where that piece of mail, that suspicious device, was found addressed to James Clapper, former director of national intelligence. Theres a second package that was discovered this morning, we learned about it this morning, addressed to senator cory booker. That was found south in opaloc
opalocka, florida. On the left is the end of that Press Briefing. No questions taken from those officials who were filling us in, but we do know that this is a story that will continue to develop throughout the morning, and we are going to bring you the latest right here. For now i want to quickly turn back to somebody who has been watching this, congressman joe kennedy of massachusetts, somebody whose family, congressman, understands well the intersection of politics and violence, and it seems to be an intersection that, yet again, this country finds itself in today . Yeah. Obviously tragically so, and i guess first off, huge credit to Law Enforcement and the postal inspectors to all the work they have done to intercept these packages, and grateful to my colleagues and friends in government that everybody has been safe, and attribute that to the fact that our system is working and a pretty sad commentary on the fact that here we are today. Congressman, when you look at the moment that we are in more broadly here, the political culture, theres been a lot of
discussion around that. What is your perspective on where we stand right now in this country . Look, its a divided country, and weve gone through times of division in the past. The difference is one of the big differences is that there seems to be a lack of willingness, at least at the upper echelons of the government, to actually try to find ways to bring our country together, and that at times of tragedy and crisis and this one so far anyway looks to be like a crisis narrowly averted, rather than putting blame on Somebody Else or scapegoating others, try to find a way to heal, to recognize the fact that division and discourse is part of democracy but violence is never okay, and it can never be an option, and it can never be something that should be the incitement of that violence should never come out of the mouth of a political leader. Do you believe that Public Servants and im talking about Public Servants on both
sides of the aisle understand the consequences and the potential impact of overheated rhetoric and how that might affect other people . Look, i think we have seen throughout certainly American History and recent history acts of Political Violence are unfortunately have occurred. That obviously is nothing new. I do think that dehumanization of the other, of whether thats democrats and republicans and just people that dont believe in what your current political ideology might be is dangerous. Now, i think this goes well beyond questions about civility. Civility itself does not nice words dont excuse this type of action, and so there needs to be a robust response from Law Enforcement and, yes, every other institution that weve got to ensure that this is not okay. Look, lets be very clear. The president of the United States had an opportunity to try to bring the country together around this, and he chose to scapegoat the media, and thats
disappointing. That is not surprising, but rather than taking this moment to recognize that while this the culture that we are in, the discussions that we have, the heated rhetoric is something that we all play a part in and doing had his part to pull it down, he missed that opportunity. Congressman, thank you so much. We have to leave it there, Congressman Kennedy because we have Breaking News coming from Pete Williams and our Washington Bureau that we want to get to right this second. Whats the latest . Two Law Enforcement officials have told us that a person has been taken into custody for questioning. Now, lets be careful about how we describe this. This doesnt mean that anyone has been arrested and charged with these bombings. It means that this is a fastmoving investigation. Weve known for the past 24 hours of a lot of interviews being conducted in florida and
elsewhere and that this investigation is moving very fast, lots of leads are being checked. What were told now is that a person, a man, has been taken into custody in florida for questioning. Thats a long way from saying that anyone has been charged with this bombing. Its a long way from saying that they believe that they have cracked the case. Its just an investigative step is the way its being described to us. So a lot more work to be done, an enormous amount of investigative energy is being focused on florida not only on what you see on the right side of your screen of the postal facility in opalocka where the device sent to cory booker was found and where its believed a lot of the other packages went through, but lots of attention being focused all around that area in South Florida. People being talked to, people being questioned, so just to be very, very cautious here in saying that someone has been taken into custody for questioning could wash out, could be an important development. We just have to wait and see. Critical context in perspective, Pete Williams, thank you, i appreciate that. Let me turn to our Investigative Reporter tom winter who is in new york. Pete is reporting as you just heard this person taken into custody for questioning. We also know that a lot of people have been talked to by investigators, so put that into Somber Specti some perspective for us. Is this a different level . To answer your question, i think there have been in the last perhaps several hours here a Quickening Pace to the investigation based on what weve heard. Weve been aware of something for the last, i would say, 90 minutes or so, and were being
very cautious for all the reasons that pete just explained to you. But we do get a sense of this is a fastmoving investigation, according to petes reporting. A person has been taken into custody for questioning. At this time we do not hear that there iss an arrest, but we do hear that somebody has been taken into questioning. We are told that it is a or believe that it is a male possibly in his 50s. Thats some information that we have, but again, its very fluid, hallie. This does not mean that the person thats been taken into questioning is necessarily the actual person who has sent this device or the actual suspect. Were just going to have to keep on here. And i appreciate that, tom winter. Thank you. This has been an incredibly fastmoving hour of developments here over the last 60 minutes, and we expect more to come over the next 60. Craig melvin will be shepherding you through that from new york. Thank you. We will continue our breaking
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