Explosive device addressed to actor De Nero: Report
US actor joins list of potential victims as FBI-led task force hunts for suspects
NEW YORK Actor Robert De Niro is believed to be the latest person an explosive device was addressed to, reported CNN.
Fortunately, none of the eight devices sent to high-profile Democrats, including former president Barack Obama and former Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, have gone off.
US authorities said yesterday they were hunting for suspects. An FBI-led Joint Terrorism Task Force of federal, state and local law enforcement agencies "will continue to work to identity and arrest whosoever is responsible for sending these packages", FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement.
Former CIA Director John Brennan, prominent Democratic Party donor George Soros and California Representative Maxine Waters, an outspoken critic of US President Donald Trump, were also targets.
Yesterday morning, the New York City bomb squad removed a suspicious package addressed to Mr De Niro and similar to the other bombs, CNN reported.
After the actor's expletive-laden attack on the president at the Tony Awards in June, Mr Trump called him a "very low IQ individual".
The bomb packages were sent as the nation prepares for Nov 6 elections that will decide whether Democrats take control of one or both houses of Congress from Republicans and deny Mr Trump the majority his party now holds in both.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility.
Critics of Mr Trump accused him of inciting the violence.
EVACUATED
CNN, known for its often critical coverage of the Trump administration and for constantly provoking the ire of the president, evacuated its New York bureau after the pipe bomb was found in the mail room together with an envelope containing white powder.
A bomb squad secured the device, police said.
"There is a total and complete lack of understanding at the White House about the seriousness of their continued attacks on the media," said CNN president Jeff Zucker. "Words matter. Thus far, they have shown no comprehension of that."
Mr Trump reacted on Wednesday to the rapid fire spate of bomb alerts by first calling for unity, but then reverted to attacking the media.
From the White House, he first said "acts of political violence" have "no place in the United States".
"Those engaged in the political arena must stop treating political opponents as being morally defective," he later told a campaign rally in Wisconsin, before switching his criticism back to the media.
"The media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and stop the endless hostility and constant negative, and often times false attacks and stories," he added. "They've got to stop."- REUTERS, AFP
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