Locations throughout the United States. This is a shared fate that everybody has to come together. Law enforcement, the community, has to, you know, solve for this problem. All right. Jonathan and josh and phil mudd in studio, thank you so much. You can follow me on facebook and twitter at jake tapper or tweet the show at the lead on cnn. Our coverage on cnn continues right now. This is cnn Breaking News. We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. Im wolf blitzer in the Situation Room. Were following Breaking News. The investigation into home made bombs sent to cnn, the clintons, the obamas and other political figures in what New York Citys mayor is now calling an act of terror. None of the devices exploded, but there is fear, serious fear, that there may be more out there. President trump called the
attempted attacks despicable, even as critic noted the intended targets were frequent objects of his contempt. Ill talk about the Breaking News with senator jeff flake and our correspondents, analysts and specialists are also standing by. First, lets go to shimon prokupecz. What are you learning . Reporter six devices that investigators are looking at. The manhunt for the people or the person who is responsible for this is still under way. The fbi just releasing photos, new photos of one of the projects that this bomb came in. We believe thats the one that was addressed to Hillary Clinton, wolf. And clearly, investigators are not saying much about where they are in terms of trying to find the person or the people behind this whole series of bombs. But certainly, a lot of concern across the country now. The Fbis Joint Terrorism Task force is running this
investigation. They have increased the size of investigators, assigned to the investigation. Remember, this all began monday night when one of the first pipe bombs was sent to george soros home in new york, and from there, the fbi certainly has expanded the investigation with the discovery of new devices sent to Hillary Clinton, barack obama and, of course, now the one at cnn, which now investigators are reviewing. They have that device in their possession and theyre hoping they can get lots of clues from that device, wolf. Simone, i want you to stand by. Our chief National Security correspondent, jim sciutto, is over in our new york bureau right now at the Time Warner Center. He was evacuated as he was anchoring with poppy harlow earlier this morning. Once the bomb fear was discovered in new york. First of all, tell us more about the evacuation and whats going on now. Well, wolf, we were one target in what has proven to be a multitarget attack, spread out
over a number of states today. Told that this device that made it into the building here at cnn, into the mail room, was an active, Explosive Device, spotted by the Mail Room Team as they were scanning it. They immediately called 911. That call went through a few minutes past 10 00 in the morning while we were on the air. We heard that alarm and we evacuated. And it was because of the Quick Reaction from the new york Police Department. They were here immediately. The bomb squad was here. Members of the police, the fire department, they got us all safely, as well as dozens of other people working on this street here, closed off for a number of hours while they confirmed that it was safe. First the Explosive Device, then there was a concern about a secondary attack. White powder found in that device, as well. No hard answer yet on what that white powder was. Again, with that as with the Explosive Device, exercising an abundance of caution throughout. And it was that kind of day. And you can still hear the
security services in and around our offices, because the State Of Alert remains very high. That was the day today we had here at cnn. We will turn over every rock, we will turn every corner. We will talk to everybody that we have to in order to mitigate this threat. Reporter tonight, the fbi is actively investigating the Explosive Device sent to cnns new york offices. This after a string of devices were sent to the homes and offices of prominent public figures, including two former president s. Authorities are now calling these attempted attacks acts of terror. We will take every precaution we can. But we will not let terrorism win. Not today, not ever. Reporter the device sent to cnn, which was addressed to former cia director, john brennan, contained a suspicious white powder, as well. It was removed from cnns offices and taken to an nypd facility in the bronx to be
analyzed. This according to a Law Enforcement official. This is the moment a fire alarm went off in our new york offices at 10 09 00 a. M. Eastern time. Explosive devices. And to have projectiles thats a excuse me. That sounds like a fire alarm here. Well keep you posted on that. Reporter one minute later, my colleague, poppy harlow and i joined our colleagues in evacuating the Time Warner Center in new york. There is a fire alarm here. You might have heard in the background. Were going to find out what the latest is. Well be right back. Reporter the package delivered to cnn was among a series of bombs sent this week to distinguished democratic leaders, including the d. C. Home of former president barack obama and the new york home of former president bill clinton and former Secretary Of StateHillary Clinton. We are fine, thanks to the men and women of the Secret Service, who intercepted the package addressed to us long before it made its way to our home. Reporter another suspicious package intercepted at a Mail Sorting Facility for capitol
hill. Addressed to democratic congresswoman, Maxine Waters, a frequent target of President Trump. Yes, she is a low i. Q. Individual. Maxine waters. Reporter earlier this week on monday, a bomb was sent to the Upstate New York home of wealthy democratic donor, george soros, another favorite target of trump and right wing conspiracy theorists. Because of an incorrect address, another package, which was intended for former attorney general, eric holder, was sent back to the Return Address. The same Return Address on the packages intended for brennan, clinton and obama. An office of democratic congresswoman, Debbie Wasserman schultz in florida. Today President Trump spoke out against the threats. 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 of america. Reporter however, the
president has often inflamed the political rhetoric. His crowd in houston on monday broke into a cnn sucks chant. I dont like em either. Reporter tonight officials are urging members of the public and politicians to stop the hateful rhetoric for the sake of safety. To all Public Officials of all partisan affiliations, dont encourage violence. Dont encourage hatred. Dont encourage attacks on media. You could disagree, but you have to show respect for people. And air your disagreements peacefully. Reporter the fbi, the new york Police Department, the joint Terrorism Task force, they are all continuing the investigation as we speak. The primary concern is, will the person or persons behind these multiple Explosive Devices, do they have more to send . Do they have more targets . That is a real concern. They have an advantage now, though, that including that device found at cnn, they did not have to detonate it. They have it intact. That provides the possibility of gleaning intelligence from the device, including the possibility of fingerprints, other telltale signs that it could help identify the person or persons behind sending these multiple devices, wolf. Jim sciutto, i want you to stand by. Shimon prokupecz is with us. Youre getting new information on the manhunt right now. Theyre looking for a suspect or suspects. Thats right. And a lot of this now will go quiet and go dark from the fbi. Because this is what they do now. Now theres a hunt. Theyre on sort of this mission to find the person or people behind this. They have some clues. They have some major clues now that jim was describing. They have a device that was live, that is intact. They will be able to perhaps lift fingerprints off of that device, dna, other information that can allow them to try and circle in on where this person is. The other thing is theyre going to look to see where some of these parts that were used to
make this device, where was it purchased . And wherever that may be, you Better Believe that the fbi will be there. The other thing is that we have been told that a courier delivered this messenger, courier. It was delivered to the cnn building. So that is a major clue also for the fbi and certainly the nypd. The concern is, if this was a courier, was this mailed to a courier and then delivered to cnn or did someone actually bring this to the courier and say, hey, deliver this to this location . So we dont know the answer to that yet. The key there is they could have someone in new york who is doing this. Who is the person behind this. So obviously, this is what the nypd is on the big search for now, is who is behind this. And certainly the fbi. And also the fbi joint Terrorism Task force has added resources, added investigators to this. That really is the big thing now. They dont want any more devices out there, obviously. And they need to find out where this person is. And so just to be precise on this whole notion, theres a
major manhunt under way for the suspect or suspects. This package was handdelivered, a courier delivered it to the cnn new york bureau at the time warner from, columbus center. What about the other bombs . Were they handdelivered, as well to the obamas, clintons, eric holder, george soros . The george soros, weve been told, was delivered. They believe it was brought there by somebody and placed in the mailbox. They dont believe that went through the mail. Its not clear the other devices. We know at least one of the devices that was meant for eric holder was sent to the wrong address and was returned. That device is believed to have been sent through the mail. We dont know about the Hillary Clinton device or the barack obama device. Whether or not that was delivered by courier. But the courier here changes the dynamic, certainly. Because there is going to be interaction. Theres going to be Additional Information that investigators will be able to learn. Because of that. But having that device, having it fully intact, thats going to
bring a lot of clues to investigators. What about the suspicious package that was sent to the Congressional Office of congresswoman Maxine Waters, who has often been lambasted by the president . That too were told is now linked. They believe that is connected to the other five. So authorities now investigating a total of six devices, six might as well call them bombs that have been sent to various places across the country. Now the key is really to find out who is behind this, and also i think authorities are really concerned that obviously there could be other devices out there. That is why youre seeing the fbi send out information and you also saw the Police Department in washington. They have tweeted out a photo of the packaging. The envelope that some of these devices were delivered in. Because they want to make sure that mail rooms and homes and peoples places of businesses are aware of what to look for, should they get Something Like this in the mail or should Something Like this be delivered. So clearly, authorities very concerned here that there could
be other devices out there. Clearly, its a connection between all of the john miller Counter Terror official in New York City said the package that was delivered to the obamas was nearly identical to the package delivered to the clintons and then he went on to say that there were multiple similar packages with what youre describing as a live bomb inside. Fortunately, none went off. We are lucky none went off. Certainly for our colleagues in cnn. People who live in the building and work in the building, we are very, very lucky. Because this certainly was built in a way to cause damage. Why it didnt go off, im sure authorities will explain. The other thing is, were going to know how much damage this could have caused, because what happens in these kinds of situations, the nypd will test this. They will take everything, the ingredients inside this bomb and do their own bomb and then show just how much damage Something Like this could have created. And then well see. The idea that this was perhaps maybe you cannot cause as much damage, was rudimentary. This was meant to cause damage. Certainly was. Could have killed potentially a lot of people. I know youre working your Law Enforcement counterterrorism
sources. Well get back to you, simone. President trump condemned the attempted bombings as despicable and called for unity, rejecting Political Violence. Lets go to our white house correspondent, kaitlan collins. She is in wisconsin right now. The president going to wisconsin tonight to hold another political rally. Kaitlan, these rallies are where the president frequently goes after his political opponents, including many of those who were targeted by these bombs today. What else did the president say today . Reporter thats right, wolf. These rallies are typically where we hear the president s most divisive rhetoric. But thats not what he was saying today when he condemned these attacks. He called for unity in the country. Now, this is at a billsigning at the white house, and the first lady, melania trump, came out first. She condemned these attacks and then Premp Gsident trump got up the mike phone and this is what he had to say. The full weight of our government is being deployed to conduct this investigation and bring those responsible for these despicable acts to
justice. We will spare no resources or expense in this effort. And 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 of america. Its a very bipartisan statement. I can tell you from both sides, we both agree on that. This egregious conduct is abhorrent to everything we hold dear and sacred as americans. My administration will provide additional updates as they become available, and i just want to thank everybody for their understanding. We will get to the bottom of it. Reporter wolf, a lot of people who watched the president s remarks noticed he didnt name the people these packages were addressed to. A lot of them aren his favorite political targets, especially here in wisconsin, Maxine Waters, john brennan, who he stripped of his Security Clearance recently. And he also did not note that that package that was addressed to the former cia director was sent to cnn. A news outlet he regularly criticizes and encourages his crowd to go and chant cnn sucks multiple times a week. He didnt note any of that in his remarks at the white house today. Did the president at all suggest he was going to tone down his comments in terms of especially these political rallies where he goes after the news media specifically cnn, among others . Reporter wolf, he didnt mention that at all. He actually did not draw a connection between the fact that those packages were sent to people he regularly criticizes. And thats the typical stuff you hear at rallies like this. This is the most divisive rhetoric we get, and ahead of the midterm elections, happening three or four times a week. Its often a lot of things like this. Was there if you want the fake news to finally investigate Hillary Clinton, well just have [ cheers and applause ] dont worry, i dont like them either. Maxine, low i. Q. Individual. Reporter going after Maxine Waters, be one of the people a package was sent to. And we should note last week, praised a congressman for assaulting a reporter, something he later pleaded guilty to. So wolf, the question on everyones mind tonight is the president going to come to wisconsin, and is he going to tone down the rhetoric. Is he going to Cool Temperatures here and to see and echo what he said in the East Room Of The White House earlier, when he was calling for unity and