On Monday, October 22, 2018 there was a pipe bomb found in the mailbox at the home of billionaire and liberal campaign donor, George Soros. The bomb squads managed to deactivate the bomb near his home in Bedford, New York, just outside of Manhattan. This package would be the first of many to be sent to large political influencers in the next few hours. These bombs were addressed to the former secretary of state, Hillary Clinton and former president Barack Obama. Although these bombs never reached their targets, others were found in the mailboxes at CNN’S New York headquarters as well as a district office of Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz. Another package arrived at Robert De Niro’s Tribeca production company and restaurant. Although nobody was hurt, there are many investigators working on this case, trying to figure out whether or not the bombs could have hurt anybody. Just for safety, here is what you need to know:
- The packages sent to the many Democrats are called pipe bombs. Pipe bombs are a tightly sealed section of pipe filled with explosive devices. Normally, it contains an explosive mixture on either side of short section of steel water pipe. Pipe bombs were used in wars including the Spanish Civil War and in Word War II. The members that belonged to the British Home Guard were trained to build and use such bombs. In many countries, including the US, the manufacturing of pipe bombs is a serious crime. The pipe bombs sent to many democrats were made by a 1-inch-by-6-inch length of PVC (Polyvinyl Chloride) pipe filled with what authorities suspect was pyrotechnic powder and broken glass to serve as a shrapnel (fragments of a bomb, shell, or other object thrown out by an explosion).
- All the devices were packaged in envelopes covered with bubble wrap and had the return address of a Florida congresswoman called Debbie Wasserman Schultz. The mailing labels were computer-printed and had six first-class stamps on them.
- Another device was sent to Barack Obama’s attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., according the authorities. The package was incorrectly addressed and was delivered to Ms. Wasserman Schultz’s Florida office address instead. After this, two packages were sent to California Representative Maxine Waters, which was apprehended at a mail facility in downtown Los Angeles. One was discovered at a mail facility in downtown LA. Congresswoman Waters and President Donald Trump are known to have been critical with each other in the past. These includes targeting each other for various things politically and attacking each other on twitter. The device that was send to CNN’S headquarters was delivered by a courier. However, it still had 6 first-class postage stamps on it.
- The device sent to Mrs. Clinton was found late Tuesday by a secret service agent while screening her mail. The agent said that the device was addressed to her home in Westchester County.
News has just come out about the arrest of a suspect, 56 year-old Cesar Sayoc. Many people think he acted based on President Trump’s rhetoric since all of the 12 bombs were aimed and sent out people who oppose the president. Although President Trump praised the law enforcements for their quick work on arresting Sayoc, he also accused the news media as trying to “score political points against me and the Republican party.”