Development that folks were hoping for. Thats an arrest in this. Of course, a lot of investigation to move forward. Are there others . Is this certainly the person . Those questions investigators working on right now. But our colleagues are going to continue to follow this throughout the day. We have our colleague kate bolduan coming up right now. Really appreciate it. Thanks so much. As you said, breaking news out this morning. And a new chapter begins. A man arrested in connection with these bomb packages. With these suspicious devices. 11th and 12th suspicious devices intercepted today. A lot to get to. Let me get to Shimon Prokupecz. You and the team have been iworking on this all morning. What do we have . We dont know who he is. We dont know anything about him. Heres the bottom line. Since last night, i would say, early last evening, we had heard there was significant progress made, and that they believed they had identified someone who
was responsible for this, or at least that was their suspicion last night, the authorities. They have been doing a lot of work in florida the last 24 hours. Certainly once they discovered the Sorting Facility where some of these packages came through and it was during that time they discovered what they believed could be a person of interest, a person who could be responsible. And they worked off that. We know there is Forensic Evidence linking him or at least they believe. We dont know if its him or her, we should say. Forensic evidence linking this person. There may be images that links this person. Theyre working with a lot of information. And lets just say, and ill just tell you in general what happens in these kinds of cases, when the fbi has someone that they believe may be suspected in a crime, they do surveillance. What they call they sit on a person, conduct surveillance. We know there was surveillance, ongoing surveillance of a person. You know, again, we dont yet exactly know where this person
was arrested, but this is all sort of started in the last 24 hours. Early yesterday evening. Where they were really focusing in on this person in nearby miami. Both evan perez and i were hearing this yesterday. We began working this. We knew something significant had happened. Thats sort of how we have been explaining it all day, in that they really thought they made a lot of progress in the last day or so. And so now we have word of this arrest. Obviously, going to be probably a huge relief, i would assume, for a lot of people. The other thing thats important is they need to make sure there are no other packages. Whats clear is the packages that have been discovered today, if they were sent in the mail recently the same time as the others or a different time. Lets assume this. If this person was under fbi surveillance, then the fbi would know there were more packages placed in the mail and they would have been able to intercept it. So its probably safe to say that these packages were not mailed in the last 24 hours. They probably were old, part of the old group of packages that
he sent. Have you been able to get a sense of how long this person has been under surveillance . I have not. I have not even gotten a sense that this person is necessarily under surveillance, but in these kinds of cases, thats what normally happens. Of course. What was the break here . I think ultimately, and i dont know 100 , but just in talking to people, some of the fr forensic stuff. I also think its going to be photos that help them link this person to some of this. You have to assume that this person had to go somewhere to mail these, right . Maybe a mail box, maybe a post office, so there could be images from there. Also, we have become Law Enforcement, you have to think, just in this country, we have become so good at tracking cell phones. So they could have picked something up and triangulated. They look at Cell Phone Sites and triangulate Cell Phone Sitesand see if someones phone was pinging in a certain area. They can use all sorts of methods to try to connect the dots. Its probably going to be several things, but i suspect there will be forensicevidence to ultimately link this person and also i think they were just waiting to have probable cause to go ahead and make this arrest. Interestingly enough, the Attorney General was supposed to travel today. He cancelled his scheduled trip. Probably because of this. So well see. Hopefully well hear more from the folks over at the Department Of Justice where this person would ultimately be charged. Do you get is there any sense obviously, question number one is are there more packages out there . Are there more explosive packages out there . Question two, is there anyone else connected . And that we dont know. We dont know if this is a larger network, more than one person that was part of this. Are they looking for other people . Im sure by now, the fbi has probably run a lot of that down because they can, you know, also track this individuals cell phone and they could see who
theyre communicating with. Theres been a lot of work. I know fbi agents since this started, since the first incident. The soros package. On monday, theres been an fbi team on this for 24 hours. They were working through the night last night. Through the day today. And they waited. And they waited. We heard there was going to be some movement, and they waited and waited. Finally, for whatever reason, they chose to do it when they did, and finally an arrest has been made. So much more to learn, but this is a Huge Development in a situation of domestic terror, as we have heard from Law Enforcement officials calling it. I want to go back to washington, evan perez, do you have more information . Poppy, we now know that the Justice Department is going to hold a Press Conference later at 2 30. The Attorney General, as shimon was just mentioning, the Attorney General had plans today. He cancelled them in anticipation this might happen. So it appears that the Attorney General will be able to give a lot more details about this
investigation and certainly as you guys have been pointing out, a huge kate, im sorry, kate. A lot of things going on in my head. No worries at all, please. And in my ear. Yes, kate, we expect that the Attorney General would be able to announce a lot more details about what went down, how this arrest was made, or this person in custody now with the fbi. As you guys have been pointing out, a huge sigh of relief for everybody involved here because we knew, as shimon was pointing out, overnight, they were making good progress. Even this morning, we were told we might expect to see some action today. And now, i think the Attorney General is going to want to announce this because this is obviously a Huge National importance investigation. Absolutely, evan. Its also going to be the first time, i think, we see the Attorney General speak in a situation like this. I cant think of one. I cant think of one either. Thats going to be certainly
interesting. Also interesting that its the Department Of Justice announcing the arrest. A spokesperson in a tweet for the Department Of Justice. This goes into the politics of everything, sort of the climate were in, but the Department Of Justice here, the spokesperson announcing an arrest. Obviously, the fbi, the nypd, and really the police in miami, and really Police Across this country and the joint Terrorism Task force, as the Assistant Director in charge of the new york office here, the fbi said yesterday, this was a coast to coast investigation. They moved fast. And really, they were able to learn clues quite quickly. We cant forget, also, in all this is the postal inspectors. They were key in this because these items were going through their system. And there are things they can do that we dont talk about publicly and they dont talk about publicly and they dont tell us, but that seems to be in all of this as well. Hopefully well learn how they cracked this case. Its going to be fascinating, i think, and i think as evan has pointed out, this guy probably
made some mistakes. Theres going to be a lot of Forensic Evidence to help authorities here. Is it jumping to too early of a conclusion that if you have the Attorney General coming out at 2 30, that they are very that you would maybe assume they would be confident this threat has passed . Yes, perhaps, that the threat has passed, that theyre pretty comfortable this is the person responsible. Warrants have already probably been drawn. They were probably waiting for the warrant. A complaint has probably already been drawn. We probably have this person in court at some point, if not later today, tomorrow. Eventually, this person will have to come to new york. The fbi in new york is overseeing the case, so it could be that this person is eventually brought here. So yeah, it is for certain that look, sometimes in these cases they wait before they make an arrest because they want to make sure there is no other threat. They want to make sure no one else is involved. It could be thats what they were waiting for. I also am curious to find out
come 2 30 how careful they needed to be, if there was surveillance. If youre dealing with someone putting together explosive packages, how careful they needed to be in getting near this person. And they wanted to build a better case. As the news events are happening surrounding the investigation, were all reporting on it, new information is coming out. How is this person reacting. Who is this person calling, who is this Person Texting . What are they doing . And b, also, if the person is on their surveillance, they could build a better case. They think if they have it contained where the person is not going to flee the country or the state, and therefore run the risk of obviously escaping and them not being able to arrest him. You know, they usually wait until they can build a better case. Shimon, stick with me. Evan, im going back to you. You have new information . Thats right. One of the things the authorities were doing today was simply sitting on this suspect. They knew the suspect was from florida. I think we have been all but
hinting and hinting at that issue. Because we knew that the authorities were focusing all of their attention in southern florida, in the miami area, and we now know thats where the suspect lived. The arrest, hes now in custody and now in the hands of the fbi. But that was one of the sensitive things they had been working on this morning, was to make sure they were sitting on him, making sure that they couldnt do anything, get away, or harm anybody or harm himself before they were able to move in and arrest him. So it appears that they were able to do all of that without any harm coming to anyone. But we know that the suspect lives in florida. Hes from there. So that was a huge relief for the investigators, as they were trying to get to the bottom of this yesterday. Kate. Evan, as you were speaking, i was getting more information. Let me pop up video were just getting in. Im going to look at it with you guys for the first time. This is from our affiliate out of miami. Were told in plantation, florida. Theres a whole lot of activity that you can see right there. You know, kate, we know theres been a whole lot of activity in florida. For the last 24 hours, outside of the Sorting Facility. Youre seeing, i dont know if thats fbi or local. It looks like its fbi. So those are the teams, it looks like, the kind of s. W. A. T. Teams that go in and make these arrests. They could be serving a Search Warrant at that home to look for obviously evidence. These two areas are both outside of miami, right . These are kind of near miami, outside of miami. Just looking at it, about a 30minute drive from opalocka to plantation. Thats where i have been told by a source thats where the arrest was made. Outside of miami. So that would jive. This is broward county. That would completely jive. You have these fbi agents there on scene, in this heavily armed gear with protective gear. Of course, theres a palm tree right in the way, but it looks like thats some sort of a tow truck. That could be his van, maybe. Like a van theyre removing. I wish we could go in even further to look at that. Evan, does this i dont know if evan is with us. Let me know what you think with what were looking at. Thats right. Were told thats the place where the arrest was made. Now, i dont believe this is the home of the suspect. The suspect lives a few miles away in another location there. This is all in the suburban area of miami. All of this is all within a few miles of each other. The opalocka Postal Processing Facility is just down the road, just north of miami. Plantation is in southern broward county. And the suspect lives not far away. Also in that same general region. So the fbi has been certainly moving all their resources. The atf and the u. S. Postal inspection service, all of them were sending all of their resources to that same area because they knew that that is the likely place where this is all going to end. And so what youre seeing there,
the pictures youre seeing there, i believe its not a home. Its a business. And this person was put into custody there this morning without incident, it appears, according to sources we have been talking to. Wait, according to your sources, this person was taken into custody at a business, not his or her house . I believe this is not his home. I believe he lives in another location not far away from there. Okay. All right. Im just watching this with you, trying to see what else we can see, as this tow truck is moving in, positioning near this van. Well keep an eye on this. The same time, im also getting from cnns liz stark, evan, that Jeff Sessions is actually at the white house as we speak. Right. Right, thats right. Jeff sessions is probably briefing the president. This is exactly how this situation you would do it, a case of this kind of national importance. And given the fact that this is something touching on politics and political figures, and were a few days from the election,
this is the most important case going on in the nation. So this is something that the Attorney General would definitely go personally brief the president to let him know how this has been resolved. I believe one of the things youre looking at, the pictures there of that vehicle, i believe this might be a vehicle associated with the suspect, and thats the reason why youre seeing the tow truck and all of that activity there. But this is how what they would do is they would take this back, make sure is there any components, anything associated, anything of concern. They want to make sure they secure it so nobody in the public gets harmed. Thats what youre seeing there in the pictures, is anything associated with the suspect would be taken into custody, would be searched by the fbi to make sure that its rendered safe and to make sure that the businesses there can go back to doing their work. Absolutely. Can we just say in this moment, shimon, that i mean, we started the morning with an 11th and 12th package being picked up. Bomb squads being called back
in. More fear, more talk of domestic terror. And this moment of real relief to see an arrest made in this case. Absolutely. For everyone involved. Certainly for us and then people in the public, and then also Law Enforcement. Absolutely. This is so important to get this. This was consuming so many resources. Obviously, it has to. And also trying to make sure that there were no other threats and making sure no one else was involved. Yeah, its a huge relief. Look, you could start i started to hear the confidence and the optimism and the tone was changing yesterday, for whatever reason. No one would really tell me, but i could tell in just talking to people that the tone was changing in terms of where they thought they were in this case and this investigation. Which led me to believe that they were close and they were zeroing in on someone, and also, i was told there was evidence. They started gathering evidence, started gathering images,Forensic Evidence that was all starting to match up. And then they started, you know, as evan has been reporting, surveillance of this person. Monitoring cell phones, keeping track of where this person was going, and we have the arrest today. This person made a mistake somewhere, maybe a lot of mistakes that added up. Its also important to know, we dont know this yet, but interesting the arrest didnt take place at his home. Thats interesting because sometimes in these kinds of cases youll see the fbi move in early in the morning, Catch Someone by surprise, s. W. A. T. Team goes in. Pulls them out. In this case, its interesting that they watched and stayed with him and then they chose to make this arrest outside in public at a business. Its an auto zone, i believe, from what i see there on the building. Clearly, all of the focus is on this van with a whole bunch of decals on the windows. There will be lots of questions. Was he going to purchase something, to do something. Those are good questions. Was he just hanging outside in the van . Just hanging out. They chose to do this out in
daylight. I think i see theres fbi. You can see there, there even may be someone with an nypd thats what it looked like. They would have the joint Terrorism Task force assigned. Theyre kind of designated as fbi agents. Yeah, theres an nypd jacket. That shows the cooperation, the team effort that was going on there. Think about the people who were part of this investigation. The atf, the fbi, the nypd, postal inspectors, often forgotten in this type of situation. You have the miami, the local police there he seems comfortable enough that he was just like touching the win