FBI raced to hunt who was sent pipe bombs to high-profile Democrats and critics of US President Donald Trump.

Iran PressAmericaFederal agents searched a US mail facility near Miami on Thursday night racing to find who sent ten pipe bombs to prominent Democrats and critics of US President Donald Trump as leads pointed to Florida as the possible origin of the packages.

US homeland security secretary, Kirstjen Nielsen, told Fox News: “Some of the packages went through the mail. They originated, some of them, from Florida,” she said. “I am confident that this person or people will be brought to justice.”

On Thursday the FBI was also examining devices sent to former US vice-president Joe Biden and actor Robert De Niro.

Two packages for Biden were intercepted in Delaware, according to the FBI, while another was received at De Niro’s offices in New York City.

Investigators said they matched those sent to former president Barack Obama and several other Democrats this week, which contained pipe bombs.

political and entertainment figures targeted by suspicious packages

The new discoveries mean that nine high-profile Donald Trump, US President critics have been sent a total of 10 packages so far. All the packages were intercepted and removed without detonating, and no injuries were reported.

The New York police commissioner, Jim O’Neill, said at a news conference on Thursday afternoon that investigators were also following up on tipoffs from the public. “We are discovering things by the hour,” said O’Neill.

Officials said people thought to be at risk of receiving the devices had been identified, warned and given help screening their mail. John Miller, the NYPD’s deputy commissioner for intelligence and counter-terrorism, said of the packages: “We’re watching where they go.”

Those targeted so far appeared to share a record of clashing with Trump and becoming figures of loathing among some of his supporters.

Former CIA Director John Brennan, one of several high-profile critics of President Donald Trump to be sent a pipe bomb in the mail, criticized him on Thursday saying the American people deserve better after the president attacked the media on Twitter.

"Stop blaming others. Look in the mirror. Your inflammatory rhetoric, insults, lies, & encouragement of physical violence are disgraceful," Brennan said in response to an early morning tweet in which Trump again slammed media outlets as "fake news" one day after CNN and prominent Democrats were sent explosive devices.

101/210

 

Read more:

Suspected bombs addressed for White House intercepted

Law enforcement personnel operate a bomb disposal robot outside a post office which had been evacuated in Wilmington (Reuters)
Law enforcement personnel operate a bomb disposal robot outside a post office which had been evacuated in Wilmington (Reuters)