US President Donald Trump yesterday blamed the media for “a big part” of society’s anger, as authorities removed the latest suspected mail bomb sent to one of his critics from a New York City restaurant owned by actor Robert DeNiro.
In an early morning tweet, Trump failed to echo the call for unity he made on Wednesday as suspected explosives were discovered targeting former US president Barack Obama, former US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton, cable network CNN and others who Trump has frequently singled out for ridicule in speeches and on Twitter.
Instead, Trump appeared to conflate the mailing of suspicious packages to his foes with his own personal attacks against the media.
Photo: AFP
“A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!”
New York City police received a call shortly after 4am yesterday reporting a suspicious package and responded to the Tribeca Grill restaurant owned by DeNiro, a police department source said.
It was addressed to DeNiro personally and contained the same type of explosive device found on Wednesday in the Time Warner Center, where CNN is located, a person familiar with the incident said.
The FBI has said more such parcels might be in circulation.
“The packages are similar in appearance” and “contain potentially destructive devices,” the FBI said in a statement, warning that “it is possible that additional packages were mailed to other locations. The FBI advises the public to remain vigilant and not touch, move or handle any suspicious or unknown packages.”
The FBI described the packages as manila envelopes with bubble wrap inside and with a return address from “DEBBIE WASSERMAN SHULTZ,” a misspelling of the name of the Democratic House of Representative member from Florida.
“It appears that an individual or individuals sent out multiple similar packages,” Deputy New York City Police Commissioner for Counterterrorism John Miller told reporters in Manhattan, adding that the devices appeared to be pipe bombs.
The attacks began on Monday when police “proactively detonated” a pipe bomb found at a residence in New York City’s suburbs owned by billionaire and Democratic donor George Soros.
The FBI said two packages addressed to US Representative Maxine Waters had also been found.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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