More Bombs Directed at Democrats, Trump Critics

More Bombs Directed at Democrats, Trump Critics

More pipe bombs targeting members of the Democratic Party and a critic of U.S. President Donald Trump were discovered Thursday.

Investigators found three more pipe bombs: one sent to actor Robert De Niro and the others to former Vice President Joe Biden. They said the devices were similar to the pipe bombs sent this week to former President Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and CNN television.

A package containing a "live explosive device," according to police, received at the Time Warner Center which houses the CNN New York bureau, in New York City, is shown in this handout picture provided Oct. 24, 2018.

The package found at CNN was addressed to John Brennan, a fierce critic of Trump and a former director of intelligence under Obama. Others were sent to businessman George Soros, a long-time Democratic Party supporter, and Representative Maxine Waters, a Democrat from California.

One package mailed to former Attorney General Eric Holder, who served under Obama, was returned to the office of Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz. She was a former chair of the Democratic Party.

Actor Robert De Niro has long been a vocal critic of President Trump. At the Tony Awards in June, the actor used an obscenity to insult the president. Former Vice President Joe Biden has denounced Trump while campaigning for Democrats around the country.

None of the devices exploded and no one was injured. But the packages sent to Democrats and critics of the president raised tensions before the November 6 midterm elections.

A member of the Broward County Sheriff's Office bomb squad walks to the building where U.S. Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz's office is housed in Sunrise, Florida, Oct. 24, 2018.

The recipients of the pipe bombs have long been targets of the president’s supporters. A conservative talk show hosts even questioned whether someone who opposed Trump sent the bombs.

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump condemned the attempted bombings and said, “Acts or threats of political violence have no place in the United States.”

But Democratic Senate and House leaders Chuck Schumer of New York and Nancy Pelosi of California said Trump’s words “ring hollow.” In other words, the lawmakers suggest Trump’s words do not mean much because he supports violence in other ways.

They noted the president’s “support for the Congressman who body-slammed a reporter, the neo-Nazis who killed a young woman in Charlottesville, his supporters at rallies who get violent with protestors, dictators around the world who murder their own citizens, and referring to the free press as the enemy of the people.”

By Thursday morning, the president again blamed the media without referring to the bombing attempts. Trump wrote on Twitter: “A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News. It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!”

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What are in the packages?

An official told the Associated Press the bombs seized on Wednesday were about 15 centimeters long and packed with powder and broken glass. The official said the devices were made from plastic pipe and covered with black tape.

Law enforcement officials said all the packages were similar. They came in brown envelopes with six stamps and the return address of Democratic lawmaker Debbie Wasserman Schultz.

All the devices were sent to an FBI lab in Virginia to be studied. Officials provided no details on a possible suspect or motive.

I’m Jonathan Evans.

Hai Do wrote this story for Learning English. Kelly Jean Kelly was the editor.

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Words in This Story

hollow – n. not having real value or meaning

body-slam – v. to lift someone and throw him or her on the floor

motive – n. a reason for doing something