Suspicious powder letters reach more than three dozen congressional offices as the FBI hunts the sender
More than three dozen members of Congress have had their offices targeted with envelopes containing white powder, less than three weeks before the Nov. 3 midterms, The Guardian reported Monday, as the FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service try to identify who sent them. Election offices in at least 15 states had also reported suspicious mail as of last Thursday, ABC News reported.
The latest: Rep. Suhas Subramanyam, a Virginia Democrat, said his Leesburg district office was evacuated Monday morning after an envelope containing a suspicious substance arrived, WTOP reported. “These acts of political intimidation have no place in our country,” he said in a statement. His office said preliminary tests showed the powder was not hazardous, The Guardian reported. WTOP said it was unclear whether the envelope was connected to the wider wave of letters.
Who has been targeted: Letters addressed to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and California Sen. Alex Padilla were intercepted, and Republican Sens. Mike Rounds, Pete Ricketts and Ted Cruz also reported suspicious letters, The Guardian reported. In the House, at least 10 people were exposed after powder was sent to the offices of New York Democrats Hakeem Jeffries, Ritchie Torres and Tom Suozzi, according to the paper.
The investigation: Law enforcement sources told ABC News last week that more than 100 letters thought to contain white powder were circulating in the mail. The FBI said it was working “to identify the individual or individuals responsible for the letters,” ABC News reported. According to The Guardian, the FBI has said the recovered envelopes went through a north Texas mail processing center and carry a postmark or stamp reading “Thinking of You.” No suspect has been named.
What we know about the risk: Most of the envelopes were intercepted before delivery, The Guardian reported. The Senate Sergeant at Arms told offices to treat suspicious letters with caution, and House offices can forward district mail to the Capitol complex for screening, ABC News reported.