Authorities Investigating ‘Suspicious Packages’ Sent to Biden, De Niro

New York City Police arrive outside the Time Warner Building after an explosive device was was delivered to CNN's New York bureau on Oct. 24, 2018. (TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP/Getty Images)

Suspicious packages that were addressed to former Vice President Joe Biden and actor Robert De Niro were intercepted by investigators on Oct. 25.

An unidentified law-enforcement source, on condition of anonymity, told The Associated Press that the devices didn’t explode and no injuries were reported. The packages are said to resemble those sent to other former and current government officials in recent days.

So far, the list includes former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former CIA Director John Brennan (in a package sent to CNN), Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), billionaire financier George Soros, and former Attorney General Eric Holder, according to an FBI statement.

Those packages, enclosed in manila envelopes with bubble-wrap interiors, were affixed with computer-printed address labels and six Forever stamps, and bore the return address of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla.).

Authorities are still investigating the packages that “contain potentially destructive devices” and appear to resemble bombs, although it hasn’t been publicly confirmed if the contents are indeed explosive. Other suspicious packages have been seized in New York, Washington, Florida, and California.

The two suspicious parcels addressed to Biden were found at two Delaware post offices. On Oct. 24, police had swept Biden’s former Greenville, Delaware, home as a precaution after the other packages were, according to The Delaware News Journal. They found no parcels at the home.

Meanwhile, New York police responded to a reported suspicious package at the restaurant owned by De Niro in the city. The restaurant is located on Greenwich Street in the fashionable Tribeca area of Lower Manhattan.

“We are responding to reports of a suspicious package in the vicinity of Greenwich and Franklin streets in Tribeca, Manhattan,” said an NYPD statement on Oct. 25.

A WNBC reporter, who was at the scene, shared on Twitter that many of the surrounding streets had been closed.

Trump Urges Civility

The White House has condemned the attacks aimed at Democrats and other perceived foes of the Trump administration.

While speaking at a campaign-style rally in Wisconsin, President Donald Trump said his biggest priority is the safety of the nation.

“My highest duty, as you know, as president is to keep America safe,” he told the crowd on Oct. 24.“The federal government is conducting an aggressive investigation and we will find those responsible and we will bring them to justice, hopefully very quickly.”

Trump said any acts of political violence or threats are an attack on “democracy itself.” He said no nation can succeed that tolerates such actions.

“Such conduct must be fiercely opposed and firmly prosecuted. We want all sides to come together in peace and harmony. We can do it. It will happen,” he said.

He also called for both sides of the aisle to unify, instead of inciting violence.

“Those engaged in the political arena must stop treating political opponents as being morally defective. ... No one should carelessly compare political opponents to historical villains, which is done often. We should not mob people in public spaces or destroy public property,” the president said.

“It is essential for our democracy to draw a sharp contrast between the two different platforms. ... We need more, not less debate about policies, issues in our country. But what we can’t do is let our disagreements about matters of policy tear us apart as a country.”