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Suspicious packages sent to Clintons, Obamas, CNN

By REBECCA MORIN

The U.S. Secret Service said on Wednesday that it had intercepted two packages this week being sent to Bill and Hillary Clinton and Barack and Michelle Obama that were handled as potential explosive devices.

A package was intercepted late Tuesday that was addressed to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton at her Westchester County home in New York, according to a press release from the Secret Service.

On Wednesday, a second package was intercepted that was addressed to former President Barack Obama's residence in Washington D.C.

The Secret Service said that "the protectees did not receive the packages nor were they at risk of receiving them."

The packages were identified during routine mail screening procedures.

“The Secret Service has initiated a full scope criminal investigation that will leverage all available federal, state, and local resources to determine the source of the packages and identify those responsible," USSS said in the statement.

The Associated Press reported that the explosive device found at the Clintons' home in Chappaqua, New York, was believed to be linked to one that was found in a mailbox on Monday at the residence of billionaire George Soros, who has donated to liberal causes. Soros has been targeted by right-wing groups and even the president recently.

Soros was not there at the time.

Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said in a statement released Wednesday that the White House condemns "the attempted violent attacks recently made against President Obama, President Clinton, Secretary Clinton, and other public figures."

"These terrorizing acts are despicable, and anyone responsible will be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law," she said. "The United States Secret Service and other law enforcement agencies are investigating and will take all appropriate actions to protect anyone threatened by these cowards."

The Time Warner building in New York City, where CNN's New York bureau is located, was also evacuated on Wednesday morning due to a suspicious package.

It is unclear whether the package is related to any of the devices that have been intercepted.

CNN anchors Jim Sciutto and Poppy Harlow were on air when a fire alarm went off. Although they anchored for several minutes, they were later evacuated.

Sciutto, reporting on the sidewalk after being evacuated, said that a New York police department bomb squad unit was at their building, in addition to a strategic response group that is part of the New York Police Department.

"The question now: whether this one is linked to those. Certainly the timing is, at the very least, suspicious here," Sciutto said on air.

In addition, ambulances are outside the building as a precaution, although no injuries have been reported.

A bomb squad vehicle designed for transporting explosives has also reportedly been dispatched to the scene.

"Normally that truck is what they use when they believe that they have something that is a real explosive, something that can explode. What they do is they place it in there. It's a secure chamber kind of so if it does explode, it explodes internally, does not harm anything outside of it," said CNN Crime and Justice reporter Shimon Prokupecz.