Good morning to you. Craig melvin from msnbc headquarters in New York City. We continue to follow this breaking news. Potential Explosive Devices mailed to President Obama and Hillary Clinton. As you see there, cnn reporters and others have been evacuated from their headquarters here in New York City. This is a live look outside the Time Warner Center here in New York City. The Secret Service confirming a criminal investigation into the Explosive Devices mailed to the two democrats a short time ago, they follow a similar discovery of a device found, a very similar device that was found monday in the mailbox of billionaire philanthropist george soros. Lets start with our nbc reporter tom winter, nbc Investigative Reporter ron allen has made his way to chappaqua. This is a suburb of New York City. This is where president clinton and Hillary Clinton live. Hans nichols is at the white house. Tom, let me start with you here in the studio. I understand that you have some new reporting on the devices themselves. What more can you tell us . Craig, this reporting reflects mine and my colleagues, that were getting some ideas of what these potential Explosive Devices were. Were saying potential because the analysis is still underway. We dont know if, in fact, they would have gone off or whether or not they were just designed very close to the point where they would have gone off, but were not actual fungt yu the e tier yo the exterior of the package is manila in color. They do have stamps on them. There is a common Return Address on the envelope that at the moment we are withholding because this is obviously an ongoing Law Enforcement investigation. Its a sensitive investigation, but the Return Address is for a prominent former Democratic Party official. So theres the same Return Address on all the packages that have been sent so far, and im referring specifically to the
clinton, obama, and soros packages. Okay. Now, the picture were showing people live is outside of cnn. What weve been told there is the device the potential device or the suspicious package that was found there this morning is very similar, if not exactly similar to what was found in the other three packages, the clinton, obama, soros packages. At this point its being treated as an Explosive Device. We dont know whether it is actually an Explosive Device. The image that weve been showing on screen i could see in the background The Bomb Squads Containment Vessel is there. They would have the ability to, if they render that package safe, they have the ability to take that package, put it inside of that, and then theyll take it to the facility in the bronx. They can actually explode it there, but inside that vessel they can keep all the evidence. This is standard procedure that youre seeing with the nypd bomb squad right now. Im not detailing everything thats going on there. This is something they train for all the time. This is something they have a tremendous amount of experience with, but at this point were starting to learn a little bit
more about those devices, how similar they are, potential devices, how similar they are in nature, and its something were going to have to continue to watch to find out who, in fact, is sending these. Are your sources telling you whether there is concern that there might be more devices out there like these, or do we believe at this point that all of the Explosive Devices have been mailed . I think theres definitely concern that the potential exists for more devices to be found. I dont think anybody expected there to be a device that potential device that showed up at cnn this morning. Obviously we had one earlier this week with george soros on monday. Now we have the two that weve learned about here overnight into early this morning. I think this is kind of a dynamic situation. I know that there was a report that had gone out that there may have been another device or potential package that was found at George SorossFoundation Office here in New York City. That is not true. Ive been told that by nypd. I know theres a lot of reports that were thrown out there. This is a look in northwest d. C. This is the neighborhood in which the obamas live. You can see some Police Activity outside that house. At this point we do not know whether one or both of the obamas were at home, but, again, the obamas, the clintons, and george soros, and now cnn evacuated as well as a result of these Explosive Devices that have been mailed. Let me go now to my colleague ali velshi. He joins me now by phone. He is outside the Time Warner Center in New York City. Whats the scene there, ali . Reporter im On 58th Street, which is the street where the entrance of cnn. This is as close as we can get to the cnn entrance. Im here with a number of my old colleagues from cnn. This is also where theyre reporting from. What were looking at most prom ne prominently in addition to a
heavy Police Presence. I think i see john miller on the scene now. We see a bomb Disposal Unit that is outside of cnn. It may be hard for you to see. It looks like a Garbage Truck with a big round opening. A lot of police, some fire vehicles. All of the cnn staff has been evacuated. The Retail Portion of it. The police on the scene are treating it as if its an active bomb. They are obviously in discussions now as to what to do with it. In concert with the other bombs or suspected bombs, the packages
that were received today, that is what is giving everybody concerned. I should say craig, this area, Time Warner Center, Columbus Circle like where we work at rockefeller center, they were able to respond very quickly to the call from cnn that there was a suspicious package here. Very heavy Police Presence. This is a major hub in new york, nine subway lines, many major streets. The police have done a good job of keeping it open. All the major streets are open but for 58th street where i am now where the Police Presence is concentrated, and it does look like everybodys figured this out. Theyre trying to figure out what to do with the package, where to detonate it. The Detonation Unit is still on scene On 58th Street. Ali velshi, well come back to you in just a moment. Ali velshi On 58th Street here in New York City right outside cnn headquarters, which have been evacuated. The president of cn nrkn sent ao to staff confirming the
evacuation saying that a suspicious package was received in the mailroom. Zucker going on to say they were working with authorities to determine the severity of the situation. Nypd on the scene as you can see there. They are also checking all of the their Bureaus Around The World out of a complete abundance of caution. That language coming from the president of cnn. Ron allen has made his way to chappaqua, new york. That is of course where the clintons live. He is outside the clinton home. Ron, what more can you tell us . Do we know, first of all, whether one or both of the clintons were home at the time . Reporter were being told, craig, that bill clinton, president clinton was at home when this device was found. However, again, underscoring it was never got anywhere near here. It was intercepted in the mail, processed and found that at a
secret Service Screening center. Hillary clinton is in florida attending a number of fundraisers that were already preplanned. And the Secret Service has been emphasizing that these devices never got anywhere near either of them. They were never a threat, but of course the fact that they even exist, the fact that this is even happening is a concern. Outside here at the clinton estate, remember, they have been here for 18 years or so, right after president clinton left office. This is a wellestablished, wellprotected neighborhood. The screening of their mail is a welldone process that has been happening for years and years and years, and i would assume its a similar process in the case of President Obama. So very different situation yesterday, however, at the home of george soros, which is about, oh, ten miles or so from here in another town here in Northern New York where that device was found in a mailbox, a big
mailbox that sits right on the side of a main road, a twolane roadway right outside of husband hous his house. Its unclear whether that device came through the mail or whether it was dropped off by hand and put in the mailbox, which just based on looking at the logistics of it someone could have easily done, just drive up and put something in a mailbox. Its unclear how that device got there. That one too. In that case that was discovered, we understand, by an employee who was working at the residence, a security person, somebody picking up the mail. We dont know exactly what that persons role was, but that person became suspicious, took the device, the bomb out into the nearby woods and called the police who came with The Bomb Squads, and they detonated it, disarmed it, made it safe. In that case as well, we are told george soros was not at home when that device was found there, and we dont know his whereabouts since. But again, out here now, a lot of security outside the clinton
house. There was a fair amount of security at the soros house yesterday, and also at his Foundation Society offices which are down in midtown not far from where you are. We saw a lot of security there as well as authorities, investigators try to figure out what the scale of this is, whats happening. As you might imagine, the people we talked to in the community are very disturbed by all of this. On the one hand, it doesnt seem to be a threat to the wider community. It seems to be targeting specific individuals, political individuals, but that, of course, is disturbing as well t certainly because of what it says about the place our country is in that it comes to this. The Secret Service is here, the police are here. We dont know if bill clinton is here. We know Hillary Clinton is not as this Investigation Continues to figure out why this is happening and whether its going to continue. Okay. Ron, thank you, outside
chappaq chappaqua. Ron, well check in with you in just a moment. Let me bring in now our Justice Correspondent, Pete Williams there in washington, d. C. Pete youve been working the phones, talking to your sources. What more do we know at this point . Well, i think one thing to emphasize here is that the assumption has to be made in all these cases that these devices could be fully functional, so theyre treating them as such. Thats the normal approach, thats the normal protocol for whenever a suspicious device like this is found that looks like it could be a Working Device. That has to be always the assumption for maximum safety. Whether, in fact, any of these were fully functional, capable of going off doing damage, causing injury, possibly death, we dont know. What were told is that the analysis thats most advanced is on the device that was found first, the one you were just talking about at the home of george soros in new york not in New York City, but in new
york state, and the analysis of that one being conducted by the fbis analysts at their lab outside washington, d. C. In quantico, virginia, isnt done a and that no conclusion has been reached yet on whether these were, in fact, fully functional devices. Now, all of them appear to be made roughly the same. Theyre all pipe type devices, Pipe Bomb Type devices, explosive powder inside a pipe. But whether they were capable of going off and what would have caused them to go off is yet to be determined. Would they be ill offer an example of the unabomber several years ago, would they be set to go off when the package was opened. Were they set to go off when it was handled or was there a timer. All of those things are to be determined, and even if they have the sort of Detonation Schematic or the theory of how it would work, would in fact, it
function . I think thats point one. We just dont know, in fact, what that was. Secondly, they all appear to be the same. The outward appearances, they look the same, i guess is the easiest way to say it. Theyre all in envelopes, not boxes. They all appear to be constructed the same. They all bear the same Return Address, obviously phony of a former prominent democratic official, and they were all sort of similar targets. Now, we know of only four at this point, the one sent to soros, the one addressed to barack obama, the one addressed to Hillary Clinton, and apparently now this fourth one, the one addressed to cnn. There had been a report elsewhere, craig, this morning, that another device was addressed to the white house and intercepted, but that were told is not the case. I think that was basically some confusion of the fact that its the same mail sorting facility
that sorts the mail for the white house and for the former president s, and i think thats where that confusion came from. We only know of these four at this point. It bears emphasis that the packages addressed to the clintons and the obamas never got anywhere near their houses. All mail sent to people protected by the Secret Service, current and former federal officials, is screened at an off site facility. In other words, it may be addressed to an address in washington, d. C. , but the Postal Service doesnt just deliver it there. Its diverted. It goes through a mail screening facility. Thats true of all the mail that goes to the white house. All the mail that goes to many cabinet offices, all the mail that goes to members of congress. Its not delivered there directly, and it hasnt been ever since basically since the Anthrax Scare of 2001. All that mail doesnt go
through. It was detected. Thats part of the good news here that the ones addressed to the Government Officials were found now. Obviously thats not the case for mail to george soros. Its not the case for mail sent to cnn, although most modern, most corporations, most companies that have offices in new york have Mail Screening Facilities where incoming mail is not simply directly sent to some person that its addressed to. It goes through screening. Its xrayed, that kind of thing, and thats presumably in the mailroom where this package to cnn that were spending a lot of time looking at this morning, thats where it was sent, and thats where it was detected. Pete, hang tight for me one second. Tom winter, i understand youve got some new information here . Yeah, i was just asked by the control room about some of the things that weve all received on our phones. Because of our proximity to cnn weve received emergency alert, kind of a hyper local messages that are sent. So essentially anybody thats on a group of Cell Phone Towers that are close to cnn, and were not far away, has received an Emergency Message saying theres Police Activity in the area, its On 58th Street. Its an image weve been looking at on screen, and the traffic and other transportation in the area may be impacted but thats something weve seen the nypd use numerous times before. The first time they used it that was an actual confirmed Explosive Device that the nypd investigated in chelsea when there was a bomber there. We were lucky that Device Didnt Go Off at that time. People are asking about these emergency alerting messages. This something we receive in New York City. Theyre able to kind of hyper target us. Ill let you get back to pete. Pete, how real is the possibility, according to your sources there in washington, how real is the possibility that there are other Pipe Bomb Type devices out there . Well, i would give two
answers to that. One is i guess they dont know for sure. Okay. Because the mail that was sent to soros and cnn was delivered, so they just didnt spot that and didnt kno