Cesar Sayoc arrest: Florida suspect faces 48 years in prison over pipe bombs targeting Trump critics
A dozen explosive devices and suspicious packages intercepted by authorities in last few days
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Your support makes all the difference.On Friday, United States Attorney General Jeff Sessions said that Cesar Sayoc Jr, the suspect connected to the mailing of more than a dozen parcel bombs and suspicious packages to senior Democrats and prominent critics of Donald Trump, had been charged with five federal crimes.
The federal felony charges include interstate transportation of explosives, illegal mailing of explosives and threats against a former president among others. In a press conference, Mr Sessions said Mr Sayoc faced up to 58 years in prison if found guilty.
“We will not tolerate such lawlessness, especially political violence,” he said.
Several moments later, however, the Justice Department said Mr Sessions had inaccurate information about the alleged bomber’s prison time. Mr Sayoc faces 48 years in prison, not 58.
When asked if there are other suspects, FBI Director Christopher Wray said the investigation is active and ongoing. Officials believe there may be other explosive devices in the mail system.
The federal authorities were able to find Mr Sayoc after finding a fingerprint on one of the envelopes sent to California Congresswoman Maxine Waters, which has been confirmed to belong to him, Wray said. Investigators also believe there is DNA on other packages Mr Sayoc sent.
The authorities also seized Mr Sayoc’s white van. The vehicle was covered in stickers featuring Mr Trump, Vice President Mike Pence, anti-gay symbols, Ku Klux Klan paraphernalia, and a lynching of a black person. One of the stickers read “CNN sucks,” echoing a chant often said in Mr Trump’s rallies.
The prosecutor for Mr Sayoc's case is US Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman.
“This is an ongoing and active investigation. We will not rest until these crimes are fully investigated,” Mr Berman said.
Mr Sessions said the mail bomb suspect appears to be partisan, but said he does not know why Democratic political figures were targeted.
Two weeks prior to sending pipe bombs, Mr Sayoc harassed and threatened Democratic strategist Rochelle Ritchie. Ms Ritchie reported him to Twitter. The social media site responded by saying that Mr Sayoc did not commit any violations.
Mr Sayoc’s Facebook page, listed under the name Cesar Altieri Randazzo, is filled with right-wing propaganda. He appeared to have shared posts and articles from right-wing pages, Breitbart and Fox News. One of the posts Mr Sayoc shares is from a Facebook page called “Handcuffs for Hillary.”
A Facebook spokesperson said it removed multiple posts from Mr Sayoc’s account for violating its community standards. Some of the removals were the result of Facebook users reporting Mr Sayoc’s posts for violations. Others were identified by Facebook through its detection systems.
The violations, however, were not severe enough for the company to remove the account.
If you want to see how the day progressed, follow the live blog below
Some more details of the apparent suspect are coming out in US media. He is believed to be in his 50s and has ties to New York as well as Florida.
John Miller, the New York Police Department Commissioner of Intelligence and Counter Terrorism, just spoke at a news conference about the suspicious package found at a New York post office.
He said the bomb squad used equipment to conduct an X-ray of the package. Authorities saw “what appears to be a pipe bomb consistent with other devices we’ve seen this week contained in a package."
Mr Miller said an “alert” postal worker, who was aware of the suspicious devices going through the mail, detected the package this morning.
That package is believed to have been addressed to former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, via CNN.
Donald Trump has said he will be speaking about the investigation at the Young Black Leadership Summit at the White House.
President Trump has been briefed on the investigation by White House Chief of Staff John Kelly.
The van that has been taken by authorities has been covered and is now being transported by a police escort for further testing.
One emerging theme — though perhaps ultimately inconsequential — is that whoever has been sending these pipe bombs has struggled to spell the names of the intended recipients correctly.
The sender or senders misspelled former CIA Director John Brennan's name incorrectly ("Brenan"), for instance, and has misspelled Florida Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz's name incorrectly as well ("Shultz").
In addition to the misspelled names, it is worth noting that Mr Brennan is a contributor for NBC and MSNBC in Rockefeller Centre — but his package was sent to CNN's office in the Time Warner Centre.
The suspect's name has been made public. Cesar Sayoc Jr has been arrested in Plantation, Florida.
President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly bashed the news media, has pushed back against CNN for "blaming" him for the pipe bombs that have been sent to his political rivals this week.
The president lamented and complained that he is held to a different standard than his critics because he is the leader of the United States.
“Funny how lowly rated CNN, and others, can criticize me at will, even blaming me for the current spate of Bombs and ridiculously comparing this to September 11th and the Oklahoma City bombing,” Mr Trump tweeted just after 3am Friday. “Yet when I criticize them they go wild and scream, ‘it’s just not Presidential!’”
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