CNN says authorities have intercepted another ‘suspicious package’ directed to the news organization

By Matt Zapotosky and Devlin Barrett | The Washington Post

CNN said Monday that authorities had intercepted another “suspicious package” addressed to the news organization at a post office in Atlanta.

It was not immediately clear whether the package was connected to the 14 the FBI has said were mailed recently to prominent Democratic and media figures who have been critical of President Trump. Two of those were directed to CNN, one of which sparked an evacuation of the organization’s office in New York.

[‘He felt that somebody was finally talking to him’: How the package-bomb suspect found inspiration in Trump]

In a statement, CNN president Jeff Zucker said there was “no imminent danger to the CNN Center” in Atlanta. He said all mail is screened off site, so the package would not have come there directly, even if it had not been intercepted at the post office.

An FBI spokesman in Atlanta said the agency was responding to a report received from U.S. postal inspectors of a suspicious package at 400 Pryor St. in Atlanta, a mail facility. The FBI could not immediately provide other details.

Last week, authorities arrested 56-year-old Cesar Sayoc, who they believe responsible for sending the 14 packages. He is scheduled to appear in federal court in Miami Monday afternoon.

The two packages that authorities say Sayoc directed to CNN previously were targeted at former director of national intelligence James Clapper and former CIA director John Brennan. Both are prominent television commentators, though Brennan is an analyst for MSNBC, rather than CNN, and his name was misspelled on the package directed to him.

Sayoc’s other targets included former president Barack Obama, former attorney general Eric Holder, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, liberal billionaire George Soros and actor Robert De Niro.

Authorities have said the previous packages contained possible bombs made of six inches of PVC pipe, a small clock, a battery, wiring and what authorities termed “energetic,” or possibly explosive, material. They were shipped through the mail in manila envelopes lined with bubble wrap. None detonated, and it is unclear whether they could have, authorities have said.

The FBI said it linked Sayoc by connecting him to fingerprint on one of the envelopes, as well as a possible DNA match from two of the devices. Sayoc, a strip club worker who lived out a van, has a lengthy criminal past, including arrests for theft, fraud and threatening to bomb a utility company. His social media shows he was an ardent defender of the president and virulent critic of Trump’s opponents. Family members and associates have said he seemed to have mental health issues, though he rejected their pleas that he seek help.