What they can prove right now versus what they dont know. Obviously, when they figure out who this person is thats going to help based on things theyre going to be able to search and get later. At this point we know at least several of them were incapable of actually exploding. One thing we do want to caution Law Enforcement officials say, hey, if you see one of these suspicious packages are, and weve seen a lot of pictures of them right now and Law Enforcement have done their best to alert businesses, you should still treat it as if they were live. And some of these devices actually have explosive powder in them. And once you have that contained in a container like the type that youre looking at on tv right now, this one by 6 inch pvc pipe, at that point you do have to be concerned about a possible explosion. This isnt a way to ratchet down the concern. Its just a good piece of information. We need to find out as much as we can about these. Lets talk about florida connection. What we know right now is the return on these was Barbara Wasserman schultz of florida. One got returned to her office, which had authorities close in on her office to see whether shed been a target or what the connection was. Exactly. So our understanding according to multiple senior Law Enforcement officials is that right now the investigation is looking at whether or not these packages were sent from florida. Obviously, as you suggested theres no indication at all that deputy Wassermann Schultz was mailing out bombs in the last couple of days. But the idea at this point is theyre looking into whether or not these were sent from florida, and that may be the next kind of round of the investigation. Theres a couple of things that i think Pete Williams pointed this out earlier, and same thing with jonathan deans, is you have the bombs thats a tremendous amount of evidence right there, and but you also have these packages. And some of them were postmarked and know from our reporting they were sent through the mail system. At some point youre going to look at here where might these have been sent from, is there any sort of information that might help with that, whether it be the postmarking, any sort of details. I and would expect here wed learn theres some video canvassing occurring. Thats a police term. Theyre going to go around to certain places they think maybe these packages came from. Is there Surveillance Video of the closed circuit tvs that would have an image. Thats how they figured out the boston bomber. Most youve talked to and ive talked have expressed a great deal of confidence theyre going to figure out whos behind this. A lot of people mention the unabomber because theres similarities of moving packages through the mail, it took extraordinary steps to drive packages to different locations, to hand deliver some of them himself. He took on a whole different way of delivering these packages, and that was in a different time where we didnt have the tremendous amount of Surveillance Systems we have setup now. When you look at the capability in new york city, the police have in some cases the ability to take your image and then search the entire video database. And not to suggest the persons in new york city. Tom winter, with nbc news investigations whos giving us a lot of news on this. I want to go to nbc news ron allen where around 4 00 this morning authorities were called about a suspicious package addressed to actor Robert De Niro. Ron, in less than half an hour were going to hear from nypd on the latest of the investigation. What do you know from your reporting . Reporter well, ali, were still trying to figure out exactly when this device arrived here. The thinking is that it may have gotten here some time on tuesday, yesterday the day before it was actually discovered. Which means it was here at de niros offices for some time before a Security Guard or another worker figured out this might be one of the devices thats being talked about in the news and someone called the authorities this morning. The other thing about that means there may have been a very active bomb in this neighborhood for a considerable amount of time. And this is a neighborhood. For example, around me now i can see a lot of kids who are going home from school. New york has a lot of neighborhoods like this that are business, theyre communities, everything is happening in a very small area. Earlier today we were talking to some of the people who work here at the restaurant, and they were very alarmed, of course, to find out in fact this device could have been there for that period of time. Its right here on the street as well. Fortunate that at 5 00 in the morning, 6 00 in the morning when the police came here to remove this device, they shut everything down, they closed off a lot of streets. There wasnt a lot of activity in the area, as was the case at the time at Warner Center in Columbus Circle yesterday when that happened. Again, what we know about this device was that its supposedly similar to the others. It was addressed to Robert De Niro. We believe it arrived at the offices for the Tribeca Enterprises production company, which above the restaurant here above the ground floor. Beyond that, we dont know a lot about that specific device. Other devices went to public officials, they were caught in screening areas. But this one was not apparently. Like the one at george soros house, like the one that went to cnn. Also we know that Robert De Niro was the apparent target. What does he have have in common with everyone else, he has been a critic of President Trump. Heres what he had to say about President Trump. Im going to say one thing, [ bleep ] trump. He wants to punch people in the face, well, id like to punch him in the face. This [ bleep ] idiot is the president. Its the emperors new clothes. The guy is a [ bleep ] fool. Reporter the other thing, of course is that de niro st. Private citizen, a prominent person but not a political figure. And so that raises the question, george soros as well, too, but raises the question are there more people who are not necessarily elected officials who are critics of the president or others who are also going to be targeted perhaps in the future. All this suggests questions about why this is and why this might be, and of course whether this is going to continue. Thanks for your reporting. Earlier this morning two suspicious packages containing explosive devices were intercepted. They were addressed to former Vice President joe biden. One was discovered at a postal facility in wilmington, delaware, another in new castle, delaware. And thats where we find msnbc garret hake. Whats the latest . Reporter this was where the first of the two packages was discovered. The second at joe bidens home. The manila padded envelope with a printed label both addressed to the former Vice President at his home in delaware. And both were spotted by mail employees after as our Pete Williams he be reporting, authorities thought there was another package somewhere in the mix. They knew they were looking for something addressed to the former Vice President. They did not expect to find two separate packages addressed to Vice President biden. Like de niro, he has been an outspoken critic of President Trump particularly over the last few weeks as hes been back out on the campaign trail campaigning for democrats for elected office. Heres some of what the Vice President has had to say not just about the president but about the political culture he believes the president has been responsible for. Well, im sick and tired of being sick and tired about whats going on in this country today. Ive had it up to here. This is not who we are. What were talking about here today, people being able to earn a decent wage is the ultimate antidote to all of this foolishness thats going on with this phony populism and naked nationalism thats going on right now. They see a president who has based our values to tyrants and thugs. Our reputation nationally is cratering. Its not who we are. Reporter and ali, thats some of the Vice President o on the campaign trail, the former Vice President i should say on the campaign trail in the last few weeks. Im not going to get into the speculation business at all, but he certainly continues to fit the profile of anyone else whos received these packages or been the intended recipient of these packages over the last few days. We have not heard from biden today since knowing hed become a target of these packages. He tweeted yesterday this kind of thing has to stop. Biden will be on the trail tonight and tomorrow, so i do expect to hear from him speaking out what it has been like for him to be drawn into this bizarre moment in our political context. Authorities are now methodically combing over the clues available so far. What can they piece together based on the evidence they have so far . Joining me now, guys, thanks so much for being here with me. Jim, lets start with you. Tom winters and jonathan dean and others have been reporting that some of these devices, these explosive devices were not sure whether they were faulty or deliberately built that way would not have exploded. Now, they havent said all of them havent. What does that mean to you, if anything . Well, we dont have the answer. I mean what great reporters they both are. We dont have the answer. Its not in yet, and we wont know unless, you know, the lab determines how those things were fused and fired. One thing we dont want to do, ali, is do not confuse intent with ability. You know, a bombers intent to kill may not match his ability. Right, weve seen that before. Weve seen many examples of that before, where they had bad intent, it didnt work out. Well, right. Left the keys in the car, made that goldberg contraption, it didnt function. But his desire was to kill everybody. And we could be looking at that, people who have real desire but no skill. And thats possible in some of these fusing and firing mechanisms may have been flubbed. One is shrapnel in the pipes and of course, two, i think the double bombs to Maxine Waters and to joe biden. That does not seem to me to be to lead itself to a hoax. One bomb will scare you, but if you send two its like i really want to make sure i kill you. Theres some indicators there. Its not an absolute. But i think we have to be careful with how we see that. I think it was pretty clear that the bomber was not the valedictorian of the bomb making school. These devices do lack some things. We dont want to point out what those are because we dont want to school. There are answers that need to come. As far as physical evidence, let me tell you with ten bombs not detonated, all that wrapping, all that tape, we take the tape off at the atf lab, with little tweezers to get the fingerprints under there. Its very difficult to put tape on with surgical gloves. Ive tried to do it sometimes working on my hot rods. I can never unroll the tape. I have to take the gloves off because its too hard. And if the bomber intebded for these bombs to go off, ali, he wasnt worried about the tape. Danny, she made an interesting point. Jim said in his career he saw one bomb that had 150 fingerprints on them. But in the end theyre going to catch somebody. Intent versus ability. Legally, is there a distinction . There will be no hoax offense in this case. The fact you have shrapnel in the form of glass or something else, so long as the other Component Parts are there, this is under the law considered a weapon. There wont be any defense that, a, it wasnt really a bomb. As long as as all the Component Parts are there, it wont be required theyre plugged in or even work for it to be considered a destructive device under federal law. And actually bombs fall within the category of firearms under federal law. If you use a firearm in the commission of a violent crime, and mailing a bomb is a violent crime, then theres a 30year mandatory minimum under federal law. All right, so this is going to be serious once they get their hands on people. People or a person, jim and other experts believe they will. Thanks to you, jim special agent in charge. Up next how President Trumps countless calls for aggression and violence fit into our countrys political history better than you might think. Youre watching msnbc. At humana, we believe great things are ahead of you when you start with healthy. And part of staying healthy means choosing the right medicare plan. Humana can help. With original medicare, youre covered for hospital stays and Doctor Office visits when youre sick. But keep in mind youll have to pay a deductible for each. A Medicare Supplement plan can cover your deductibles and coinsurance, but you may pay higher premiums than you do with other plans. And Prescription Drug coverage isnt included. But, with an allinone humana Medicare Advantage plan, you could get all that coverage plus part d Prescription Drug benefits. You get all this coverage for zero dollar monthly plan premium in most areas. 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Well almost anything. Leave no room behind with xfi pods. Simple. Easy. Awesome. Click or visit a retail store today. President trump has often encouraged violence during his speeches and rallies. Heres a small sampling of some of his comments. Knock the crap out of them, would you, seriously . Get them out. Try not to hurt him. If you do, ill defend you in court. Dont worry about it. When you see these thugs being thrown into the back of a paddy wagon, you just see them thrown in rough. I said please dont be too nice. Id like to punch him in the face, ill tell you. Any guy that can do a body slam, hes my theres a lot more where that came from. It might be unbecoming, might be unheard of mim its not really, actually. My next guest says the president s comment fits into the Political Violence in this country. There are suspicious packages now and heated political rhetoric and a sign that we might be reverting to our violent roots. Joining me now to have a closer look at this is joanne freeman, a professor of history at yale university. Shes written a new book about it called the field of blood violence and the road to civil war. Thank you for being with us. I didnt think this was a question, but after looking through your book im beginning to wonder is the question are we beginning to revert to it norm, is this a violent country and were beginning to get back to our roots. Well, it is a violent country but it isnt consistently violent. There have been moments and there have been other moments that are like this moment, which is not to say were repeating the past, but moments that are fraught. I think when people realize that the nation is going to move in one direction or another so they kind of feel the stakes are high. And at those kinds of moments i think politics gets polarized, Political Parties begin to kind of splinter. Americans begin to distrust each other. That sort of thing happened in the 1790s. In the 1850s in the lead up to the civil war, you could pin that on the 1960s, too. You pointed to periods of great tension when america became a nation in the civil war, and then again and around vietnam where a lot of people who remember those days say its like that. In your book you write there seems to be so much violence in the house and Senate Chambers in the 1830s, 1840s, and 1850s, shoving, punching, bowie knives. Congressman brawling in the benches while colleagues stood on chairs to get a good look. And at at least once a gun was fired on the house floor. Historically they have been demonstrated, that violence has been demonstrated at our highest levels of governance. Context matters. The United States in the 1840s and 1850s was a really violent country. That was rioting and mobbing of various sorts. There was slaughtering of nativeamericans, the institution of slavery. So the United States was a different place. So it makes sense as a representative institution, certainly, congress had some of that reflected in it. So i wouldnt say whats going on now is coming from the exact same place or has the exact same impact because the world arou