Page 9 - Field Tests News Today

Discussion of the components and what that could tell investigators about who did this in boston. another developing story were following right now, an envelope turned into a possible biological weapon against a u.s. senator. early tests show a letter sent to republican roger wicker of mississippi contains the deadly poison ricin. it was intercepted before it got to his office on capitol hill. cnns shannon travis is in washington for us this morning following this story. what can you tell us abo...

Preliminary test. the envelope addressed to, again, the white house, was quarantined and is part of now a coordinated investigation headed up by the fbi. this statement notes that operations here at the white house were in no way impacted. it never reached any area that touches the president in any way. the statement also adds that filters at a second government mail screening facility -- filters, also tested positive for ricin this morning on a preliminary basis. now, ive been previously told t...

Members of the senate, members of the news media and others as well. that investigation never completely 100% satisfactory by any means. dana, standby. joe johns is our crime and justice correspondent. youre getting more information, joe, on whats going on. what are you picking up? >> dribs and drabs quite frankly, wolf. first were being told authorities letting people out of their offices in the hart building there on capitol hill on the senate side, but they have not been given the all clear s...

Enough to kill a human being. robert wicker is a republican from minnesota. shannon travis is with us this morning. we know where the letter might have been mailed from. has were trying to figure out is who mailed that letter, right? >> absolutely. in both those questions, federal officials will be investigating. we know essentially where it was from. it was post marked at least memphis, tennessee. but theres no return address. thats the information that we are getting from the senate sergeant a...

Heather: welcome back. fox news alert now, brand-new details as police investigate a letter mailed to a u.s. senator that tested positive for a dangerous poison. word this morning of a possible person of interest. mike emanuel is live for us on capitol hill. so, mike, what is the latest. >> reporter: good morning. a senior capitol hill source says there are other suspicious letters, possibly sent by the same person, to other government officials, and that source says at least one letter was addr...

Such scares have happened in washington before. in 2004, a letter containing ricin powder shut down three senate offices for two days. extraordinary precautions were taken to keep senators and staff safe. in 2003, the secret service revealed, president george w. bush received a letter containing a vial of ricin. no one was harmed in any of the cases. in this latest case, no word on anyone becoming sick. there is no indication this is tied to the boston terror scares. pierre thomas, abc news, was...

Are written to senators. ricin is poisonous. there is no suspected link between the letter and boston bombings. but, michael, if this is ricin, what happens next in that kind of an investigation? >> well, im going to take a step back. i think we have to be very hesitant to say it is ricin. field tests quite routinely come back positive and ultimate scientific tests do not. so we dont know if it is. if it turns out to be ricin, whether there is any connection whatsoever to boston, that will take ...

Tests i must say, are oftentimes wrong. weve had field tests on mail at the capitol that have tested positive for ricin. i remember one at a mail sorting machine that testing positive and it was paper dust from the mail machine. they take the material, they send it to a lab where its cultured and then theyll see if there is actually ricin and if there is, then its a pretty serious matter. theres no, no one is suggesting anything connection between this an boston. obviously, the mail would have h...

News justice correspondent, pete williams. thank you so much for being with us. it to get to the investigation and what we know, the latest on that, but first, i want to begin with these ricin reports. a letter sent to roger wicker did test positive. how serious should we take this? what are the odds of a false positive? id like to get a little context before we start ringing the alarm bell. >> lets understand what the results come from. all mail to the u.s. capitol is sent to an off sight facil...

Funeral saying it was too costly. thatcher died last monday. she was 87. the senate is on high alert this morning as capitol police and fbi investigate a suspicious letter addressed to one of its members. as abcs pierre thomas reports, field tests show the letter appears to be have been tainted with potentially fatal poison. >> reporter: sources are telling us a letter addressed to mississippi senator roger wicker tested positive for poison ricin in a field test at the senate mail office in la...