Which was, oddly, congresswoman Debbie Wasserman schultzs office in sunrise, florida. Of course she didnt send that package. The exact same return address, we should note, was used for clintons and obamas packages. Devices were also sent to democratic congresswoman Maxine Waters on capitol hill. Theyre still trying to figure out if its tied to these other incidents, as well as one sent to liberal billionaire and philanthropist george soros and to cnns headquarters where it was addressed to john brennan, former cia director. This is the device that was sent to the time warner center. As i said, it was addressed to President Obamas cia director, john brennan, a vocal critic of President Trump. Now the packages are being described as rudimentary but operative explosive devices, leading investigators to fear the intent was to kill and to kill a lot of people. No, thankfully, none of the devices went off and while we dont know the suspect or his or her or their motive, Law Enforcement investigators have no doubt noticed that those
targeted are all individuals whom President Trump has attacked aggressively and publicly. The fbi asking tonight for the publics help releasing this image and saying, anyone who has information should contact the agency. We have a team of reporters standing by from florida to new york, washington, i want to start with jim sciutto outside the cnn offices in new york. Jim, this is a major multistate investigation now under way. Reporter it is, and with similarities in the devices, the m. O. , et cetera, which is leading investigators to believe that the same individual or individuals are behind all of these attempted attacks here. Thats because of the similarities to the device, similarities to delivery method, and now what theyre doing is poring over, for instance, video footage, new york city, particularly in this area, covered with cctv cameras, something a development post9 11, in fact, for this express purpose, to be able to
track and prevent, if you can, or track after the fact people attempting to carry out violence on the streets of new york, including acts of terrorism. So, thats what theyre looking at now. They have an advantage here, jake, in that they did not have to detonate these devices out after an abundance of caution. Therefore, they have intact devices which fbi investigators have told us can give them a lot of clues. They could find actual fingerprints on the materials to lead them to someone but also signatures in terms of the design of the bomb, et cetera, which might lead them to possible suspects as well. New york has a lot of experience with this going back to 9 11, but since 9 11, and youll remember, jake and i, you and i were talking about this a couple years ago, an attempted bombing, a bombing, 20, 30 blocks south of here in chelsea in which they used those tools to lead very quickly to a suspect. We dont know that they will be able to proceed that quickly this time and they have multiple targets in mind this time but they have a lot of clues and they are working on this now with the joint Terrorism Task force involved in this as well,
tells you theyre treating this as an attempted act of terrorism, jake. And jim, earlier today, new york city mayor Bill De Blasio told me that theyre operating under the assumption that there are more bombs out there, that they have not yet found. New York Governor Andrew CuomoJust Announced hes deploying a hundred Additional National guard soldiers and directing state Law Enforcement to double security at vital assets across new york. Obviously, theres concern that this isnt over yet. Reporter there is concern, and keep in mind the progress of events. It started on monday with this bomb sent to george soros. This morning, my colleague and i were on the air here at Cnn Headquarters discussing packages sent to the former President Obama, former president bill clinton, and former Secretary Of StateHillary Clinton when we learned of a new device sent to this location so the possibility still remains of other locations around the country, other individuals targeted, so its not just an abundance of caution
when you hear Officials Say that it is genuine concern because they have seen this grow over the course of the last 48, 72 hours from one target to multiple targets, and lets be frank, the perpetrator or perpetrators are still at large so this manhunt under way and they want to find him or her or them before they can attempt to strike again. Jim sciutto, thanks so much. I want to go straight to our Senior Justice Department correspondent evan perez and you have some new information just coming in about these bombs. Reporter well, thats right, jake. I mean, the fbi took the extraordinary move today of publishing a picture of one of those packages, and one of the things thats already happening is that the fbi lab in quantico has been able to examine some of the initial devices,the first one, of course, showed up a couple nights ago at the home of george soros, and theyve noticed it contained a sort of sulfur material. This is inside of the pipe bomb, if you could that there have been images that Law Enforcement has been sharing with each other, showing wires and appears to be some rudimentary device put together with tape. Now, look, these are rudimentary devices but they are still possibly deadly, and so this is the reason why the fbi took the extraordinary move tonight of putting out this essentially call for help from the public. Theres a lot of work that goes Behind The Scenes at the fbi before they even put something out like this, and it tells us that they urgently want to try to find this person, they want to make sure that there are no other packages out there, but warn people if they see Something Like this to make sure they dont touch them and immediately call Law Enforcement. And theyre treating this, jake, as a domestic terror incident, essentially these are theres a Serial Bomber here, domestic Serial Bomber, who is trying to kill people and it shouldnt be lost on everyone, obviously, the political overtones of all of this. Obviously, the people, the recipients of some of these packages, but the fact that were just days away from an
election. Is someone trying to stoke the fires here in the runup to the election. We dont know all of these things, and certainly investigators want to try to solve this as soon as possible. All right, evan perez, thanks so much. Outfront, art roderick, former Assistant Director for investigations for the u. S. Marshals, pamela brown, bob bayer, and bernard carric, former new York City Police commissioner, commissioner during the September 11th terror attacks. I need to give a precursor, prewarning here that were expecting a Press Conference from john brennan, the former cia director to whom the package, the bomb that was sent to cnn in new york was addressed. Were expecting him to speak any moment now live and when that comes im going to rudely interrupt you. But art, let me start by just asking you, were learning new details tonight. What is it telling you about who the perpetrator or perpetrators might be. Well, as we move through the day and we start looking at these different devices, we now have six. And were either incredibly lucky or these devices were actually made not to explode. Now, theyre saying theyre active devices, okay, the trigger is the trigger there enough to make these explode or are they just trying to spread what is occurring right now, the terror that we see around new york city and these other locations that these devices have been sent to. So, that, to me, is curious that weve got six devices and not one of them went off. Let me ask you. When devices are sent or let me bring you in, bob. When devices are sent, do they usually go off . I mean, i dont think its that easy to make a bomb. Well, look at austin. All those bombs went off. That guy was an amateur. He made them go off. A lot of these i have to interrupt you as i would do so rudely. But john brennan is speaking right now. Lets listen in. Disturbing day where weve seen threats on your life and on the lives of barack obama, Hillary Clinton, and others. What are your thoughts as we end today . Well, i think were at a very
unfortunate stage of our National History when we cannot have the Civil Discourse that we need about the future direction of our country and policies without having individuals, i think very disturbed individuals, resorting to attempted acts of violence. And so, i recognize that there are a lot of raw emotions and feelings in the country and very strong feelings for individual Political Parties as well as individual politicians, but this country was founded upon the foundation of freedom and liberty and freedom of speech, and if i and others are being targeted because were speaking out and were living up to our responsibilities as citizens, i think thats, again, is a very unfortunate turn of events. So, i have full confidence in my
former Law Enforcement and intelligence colleagues to get to the bottom of this and to take the appropriate actions. I have been contacted by the folks in the security realm, letting me know what they are doing. So, this is something that i think all americans who really cherish our freedoms and our liberties really should be outraged over and try to do Everything Possible to bring that the level of discourse down so that were able to engage in a very constructive and productive way to make sure that this country is able to realize its full potential, including on the political front. Donald trump made a statement earlier today in which he said, i just want to tell you that in these times, we have to unify. We have to come together. And send one very clear, strong, unmistakable message that acts or threats of Political Violence of any kind have no place in the United States. We live in a very divided
nation. Have we reached a moment, finally, when were capable of coming together . Well, im tempted to say that was said by donald who . Well, i think its very important for an individual who is in the oval office today to say exactly that. That we need to come together as a country. We need to unite. We may have differences, but this should be no reason whatsoever to resort to these types of acts of intimidation and potentially violence. I sincerely wish that donald trump, though, would have said these things previously and regularly. I wish that he would have encouraged people from all different backgrounds and political affiliations to come together and to try to resolve differences in a very positive
manner. Unfortunately, i think donald trump, too often, has helped to incite some of these feelings of anger, if not violence, when he points to acts of violence or also talks about, you know, swinging at somebody from the press or the media. Thats why i have spoken out so strongly, some would say very stridently, because of what i think is a continued failure on the part of donald trump to live up to what i think should be all of our expectations about what an american president should be doing, especially in times like this. Im not a republican or a democrat. I work for six president s, three democrats, and three republicans, i had tremendous respect for all of them. I didnt agree with all the policies, but i always believed that they were trying to do what they believed was in the best interest of the country and not of themselves. And also, i felt that a particular times when maybe tensions within this country were strong or emotions were
strong, they were unifiers. I remember very vividly how president george w. Bush in the aftermath of 9 11 was helping to rally this country so that we all stick together in the face of this foreign adversary who caused such great havoc, destruction, and carnage, the 9 11 attacks. So, unfortunately, i think, you know, donald trump has not helped to encourage the type of Civil Discourse and Public Engagement and his rhetoric, too frequently, i think, fuels these feelings and sentiments that now are bleeding over into potentially acts of violence. So, im hoping that this is going to make it clear to him that what he has done here heretofore, as far as a lot of this rhetoric, is counterproductive. It is unamerican. It is what a president should
not be doing. What he said today is what the president should be doing. But follow up on those words with actions and with his future comments. Im hoping that maybe this is a turning point. So, to be clear, mr. Director to be clear, mr. Director, does the president s rhetoric embolden those who might commit these acts . I think one can make an argument that it has emboldened individuals to take matters into their own hands, and so when he compliments individuals who have, in fact, body slammed others or that hes going to pay the legal bills if somebody takes a swing at somebody, that can only be seen as encouragement and incitement and make it makes him and his people feel good at a rally thats going to sort of generate that type of applause, because it shows that hes being tough and strong, but its really showing, i think, a weakness, and this is what, unfortunately, a lot of
bullies and a lot of individuals do, and hes pandering to those, i think, very, very disturbing sentiments of some people that want to take matters into their own physical hands as opposed to working through these problems, and thats why i think its so important for somebody who really is the spokesperson for the government and for the country, he has to realize that every single day, whether he realizes it or not, hes a role model, not just a role model for these individuals who might be engaged in this, but role model for the next generation of americans. Thats why i spent the entire day talking to a lot of students here at ut. I believe very strongly the next generation of americans should really cherish all the freedoms and liberties that we enjoy in this country and try to give back to this wonderful country of ours, either through Public Service or the good works they do with their community, and so, again, i really have some
serious, serious concerns and objections to what mr. Trump has done while he is serving in that very, very special and esteemed office of the presidency. He needs to rethink what he is doing and saying. He should not be beating the tomtoms of anger and animosity and war. He should be trying to bring us together, and heal us as a people, because the polarization that has taken place in this country over the last couple years is really quite antithetical to what this country is, which is to bring americans together. So, i tend to get very frustrated. Im trying to figure out exactly how i can use my voice as a way to object to what he is doing. I am hoping not to add to that cauldron of emotions and
feelings, but and having policy differences with the president , as i said, ive had them before. Thats fine. But when a president does not maintain the decency, the integrity, the honesty that i think should be inherent in that office of the presidency, im going to call it out. Im going to say, this is wrong. And there needs to be some changes here. And i hope that more and more people, more americans, especially people who are part of mr. Trumps Political Party, republicans, are not just going to turn a blind eye because of other things that maybe he is doing and that they want to see accomplished but call him out and say, this should not happen. This is inconsistent with our values as a country and what it is that you should be doing as a president. And its overdue. And too many of the individuals in the Republican Party are not fulfilling their responsibilities. Again, im not a republican, im not a democrat. But i think on the basis of all of what it is we do, we should be americans, and i think too few of them are putting being an american first and putting their political affiliation or their tribe or their agenda first, and i think for the good of the country, this needs to stop. Mr. Director, when did you decide to speak out . Was there a point where you said, you know what . I cant take this anymore. I need to make my voice heard. Well, i think that were all right, as john brennan turns away from questions from the moderator, mark, of the lbj foundation, president and ceo, lets talk about what we just heard. And bob bayer, well come back to the topic about the bombs in a second, but as a former cia operative, thats a former cia director, very directly saying that the president of the United States, his rhetoric and his language has an an argument
could be made that he has incited individuals to take matters into his own hands. He didnt say that trump was specifically responsible for what happened today or this week, but it was a pretty tough criticism. No, i dont think trump believes that hes in any way responsible for this, and hes not directly responsible for the pipe bombs, but he has incited violence. We know that. And this populist agenda is directed at his base and the far right of his base, which looks at john brennan as a member of the socalled deep state. That john brennan is part of a conspiracy against trump, against the United States. John brennan is the one that essentially opened the russian file and worked with the fbi. The far right believes that the president s being framed, and that hes part of a conspiracy, john brennan is, including soros. I keep in