bronx, obviously they're cle clearing the way for it. it is an amazing thing to see. it's one thing to cover it. but it's another thing for it to be happening at your place of work. . >> reporter: and the people that ran in when we ran out. those lights were switched off. our mikes were in our ear and our entire staff ran out of the building and these folks ran in and got this device and got it out of the middle of manhattan. >> it's like th-- >> there will be this briefing, the mayor de blasio, and james o'neil, they'll be briefing on the security situation where you guys are outside the time-warner center in new york.

jake, this is a story that, you know, came out of the blue, but there were suspicions for days now that there were some serious problems beginning with that suspicious package that was delivered to george soros's residence outside of new york city. >> in westchester county, new york, george soros who supports a lot of liberal causes, getting a bomb on monday at his home and now more bombs all over the united states. i'm jake tapper, and frankly it's been a panic today, suspicious packages containing, what law enforcement officials say look like bombs. they were sent to the residents of bill and hillary clinton, they were sent to the residence of the obamas.

we're expecting a brief from new york city's mayor bill de blasio. cnn's poppy harlow and jim sciuto are on the scene, they were on air when they had to evacuate in the time-warner center because of the bomb scare. we also have cnn crime and justice reporter tisimone with . let's start with jim and poppy, tell us, jim, about the scene, what happened, and when you were told you had to evacuate and what you were told? >> reporter: well, i tell you, jake, it's remarkable to have been on the air discussing a state of explosive devices sent a around the country, we were discussing the obama residence, the clinton residence, a day or two ago, the soros residence. we heard a fire alarm and my first reaction when i hear a

fire alarm, is this just a drill, can we ignore it and keep doing our job. but it became very clear as all of our colleagues flooded out of the building, that this is one we better listen to. and walked out of the building with everybody else. and we're met immediately with that tremendous and immediate new york police department response,s including the bomb squad. tell us, what was going through your head? >> reporter: you know, jake, i thought it was a drill at first. and then immediately our crew, jay on set, marillin on set, we wanted to stay reporting the news, they took our mikes off, we went with all of our colleagues in the newsroom, went down these six flights of stairs. and it was when i was walking out the doors on 58th street in

the middle of manhattan, that this was not about a potential fire, but indeed about an explosive device in the building, and within minutes we tried to get back up on the air and continue reporting. >> as you walk outside, my colleague kate who's been with us since the beginning, the new york police department took this very seriously from the beginning, it was clearly not a drill and their first concern was the safety of us and the hundreds of others, new yorkers affected by this as they moved us further and further away and moved to act immediately to make the area safe and get that device, which made it inside the cnn building, get that device out and safely. >> and it was really striking. i have to say, i was struck watching you guys on the air, as the first alert came over the loud system because that's when it indicated to me that something was different. we don't have drills when you guys are on air. >> and your office is right next to our set. i walked out and saw you guys.

>> and when you came down, i was really struck by jake, you just saw continued increase in police presence. it went from a few vehicles outside, with the people on the ground to dozens of, you know, more than a dozen vehicles outside, and then when you saw that, it looks like a cement truck, like a small cement truck, that containment vehicle come in and see it get moved into your building, into the building, into where you work. it was a really striking moment, but they took it very seriously at one point, moving us back a block, moving us back even further when they needed to expand what they're calling the frozen zone, to make sure that that device could get out of the building and get out of manhattan as safely and quickly as possible. i have to tell you, they did it. i mean we're in manhattan, people want to get where they're going. but everyone understood, from the posture that you understood from the police and fdny who

were out here, you could tell this was nothing to mess around with. then when we got the emergency alert on our phones that said shelter in place, that was it for us. >> in the midst of it, the police will come, and the people of new york, folks listened to the cops. they acted with great composure and i think should be the first responders, you expect them to be, but also the folks affected by this were as well. >> we'll come back to you, i want to go to shimon peres right now to give you the latest on this investigation. first of all, let's talk about a few things here. my understanding is that the device, whatever it was that was delivered to the cnn new york office was addressed to the former cia director john brennan? >> yeah, that's exactly right.

that package was addressed to the former cia director john brennan. it was received at our mail room in new york, at 10 columbus circle. that's the address that authorities have fold told us w the package, and then it went through the mail room. there are folks there who noticed something weird about it. what i'm told is that this package is similar in construction and the way it appears to the other devices that authorities had discovered, certainly the one at george soros' home, the one that was addressed to former president barack obama and hillary clinton. so all of that really had authorities concerned. they knew immediately when they went in and when they looked at this that this was going to be the real deal, based on the way it was constructed, it had similarities to the other devices, the nypd bomb squad had already been briefed on some of these devices, the other devices that had been found so they knew what they were looking at and immediately what i'm told they

knew they were dealing with a very serious situation here in new york. >> shimon, thank you very much. i'm going to go to athena jones right now. we're expecting this hour, a briefing from the city officials of the city of new york and the state of new york, what are we expecting? >> reporter: at 12:45, we expect to hear from new york governor andrew cuomo, and the mayor of new york bill de blasio and members of the nypd and also the fire department. this is according to the governor's spokespersonell. these are seeming to be the same type of packages that were delivered to -- >> i'm sorry, athena, i'm sorry, i'm going to interrupt you, the connection there is spotty, we'll go back with you athena, when the audio issues get sorted out. >> i want to go to jeff zell any

at the white house. the president has been briefed and he did tweet as well? >> reporter: he did receive briefings in the residence of the white house where he spends most of his mornings and he arrived shortly after that. the vice president said this, we condemn the attempted attacks against former president obama, the clintons, cnn and others, these cowardly actions are despicable and have no place in this country, we're grateful for the swift response of the secret service, the fbi and law enforcement. those responsible will be held responsible. press secretary sarah sanders condemned the suspicious devices earlier in the day. and, jake, as of now, the

president is scheduled to remain on schedule. he has an event here this afternoon at the white house, a bill signing ceremony, i'm told by one official he is likely to address this at that point if not sooner, and he's still scheduled to go to a campaign rally in wisconsin. but certainly a question for the president and the white house, is his rhetoric and his supporters that have been giving out, in these several weeks leading up to the elections, is that connected to any of this. but we do know the president's been briefed and he's in the west wing right now. >> let me bring in our law enforcement analyst who's on the set. let's pick up with what jeff was just talking about there, because, look, we don't know who did this, we don't know what their motive was. but it's a very obvious threat and maybe it's meant as a ruse, but it's an obvious threat, the

obamas, the clintons, john brennan, cnn, george soros, these are people and organizations that president trump continually attacks, demonizes. that will obviously be something that law enforcement looks at initially. >> yes, that's going to be the key part here, i think, but it's also interesting how quickly this information regarding those two devices that wesht nt to th obamas and clintons, how quickly that got out to state and local and law enforcement around the country, because when i first heard that those packages ended up at the clintons and the obamas, certainly law enforcement and everybody else thought who else is going to be receiving packages like this. it struck me that information got out very quickly. nypd was able to make the connection between the device at the cnn center and the devices that showed up at the obamas and the clintons. everybody is on edge right now,

whether it's at u.s. capitol buildings, senate and congress's office around the country, everybody is looking for these types of devices. >> one thing we should point out, is debbie wasserman schultz, the former head of the dnc, the congresswoman from florida, two things about her, one, her sunrise, florida congressional office has been evacuated after a suspicious package was mailed there this morning according to a spokesman of the local police department. and according to a federal source, the package to george soros, had her return address. we don't think she had anything to do with it. but it had her return address. and that's something that law enforcement will be looking at. how able are law enforcement officials to use the information and the mailing addresses, the envelopes, whatever there is, the devices themselves, to

figure out who did this? >> well forensics is going to be a key in this. when you look at these types of devices, it's more or less a fingerprint of who the bombmaker is. we have heard these are ruthere strap nell within them. and at the time mall pieces that will cause more damage. all these will be put together and give us an idea of how all these bombs were made and possibly who is making them, but all this goes into evidence, especially if the devices are not exploded. that's going to be very helpful for law enforcement about where these were made and who made them.

>> what will fbi agents and others be looking at right off the bet? >> these law enforcement agencies will be working together, they'll be fusing intelligence, and obviously there are a lot of questions we still have, but from an investigator's standpoint, it appears it's an attack on democrats, or at least progressives, if you look at the target. at least from initial assessment, as an investigator, you go with what you know, and that's a key factor of who is doing this, what is motivating them? and it's the forensics piece here, thwe're always talking abt intelligence agencies and them working together. these law enforcement agencies need these relationships to quickly share information. i was talking with a law enforcement source there just a

short time ago, and he mentioned just that, once these devices started coming in the news, we saw soros, the clintons, the obamas, we saw the fbi and the police department monitoring this. so they were already ahead of the game when it comes to knowing these devices and now it comes to looking at that investigation and looking back and bridging the gap between what they don't know and a lot of these questions. >> let me just bring you up to speed. law enforcement agencies are looking into a number of potential bombs, suspicious packages have been sent to michelle and barack obama in washington, d.c., hillary clinton and former president clinton in chappaqua, new york. and john brennan, care of new york's cnn offices, even though john brennan does not work for

cnn, there was also a bomb scare, we don't know if there was an incendiary device, or a suspicious package still at this date that is suspicious. the office of congresswoman debby wasserman schultz in sun ris sunrise, florida, and a bomb that was sent outside of westchester, new york, a suspicious package arriving at the home of george soros. and art broderick, how confident are you, as a former law enforcement official that they will find out who did this? i mean some of these crimes go unsolved. >> some of them do, and we all remember how long it took to catch someone like the una disease bomber. >> we have come a long way since the days of the unabomber, based

on the forensics that they get from these particular bombs is going to be key. and this whole situation of offsite scanning of mail coming into federal facilities and also governmental buildings started during the anthrax scare after 9/11. so the government established these continuation plans and part of the main ones was the offsite sorting of the mail so it wouldn't interrupt the governmental office buildings. and we saw the time-warner building completely shut down. >> and it's the home of not just cnn, but tnt and turner and tbs and a lot of wealthy people have condos there. i want to bring in evan perez. obviously as art noted, one of the things that law enforcement

officials all over the country if not the world are going to be looking for is do we have this problem? have any incendiary devices, suspicious packages been sent to anyone in our area of jurisdiction? >> right, jake, that is approximate actually the big concern now. when this first showed up a couple of nights ago with the device that was sent to the home of george soros, people took notice and then this morning, what we're hearing from law enforcement officials is a big concern that there might be other devices that are en route and that someone, someone could get hurt. these devices were made with chemical devices that could go off. these devices are rudimentarrud

y but they're functional. someone handling the packages will be the one that will be hurt. that's what the concern is now, that there are other devices that are perhaps en route now, we don't know where, that have yet to show up and could hurt someone. we're told that at least one of the questidevices had pieces of shrapnel, essentially pieces of projecti projectiles, shards of glass, designed to increase the harm that would come from the explosion. whoever is doing this, appears to know a little bit about what they're doing. they may not have access to the biggest types of chemicals and the types of ingredients to really cause the damage, perhaps, that they want. but they have enough know-how to know that other things could be happening.

one other thing, i think it's important to note that law enforcement has gotten very good at examining these types of devices. and the key here is the device that was being sent to the bronx. they're hoping it doesn't go off so that way they can try to examine it. every piece of this device is a clue. they hope they might be able to get fingerprints, even the mail label, they can try to identify what kind of printer printed this mail label. all of these things are clues and all of the law enforcement officials and the fbi are going to be digging into this in the hours to come, jake. >> keep us updated. i want to go back to new york city to jim sciuto and poppy harlow who were anchoring this morning when word got out that there was a suspicious package at the time-warner center, and they had to be evacuated along with everyone elsal #.

>> thanks, jake, here with poppy, they took the device away, they took it away from the scene and are now taking this to the facility in the bronx, they did that because they want to glean as much as they can from the device itself. >> we're in manhattan, 8.6 million people. this square block right here, they want to get it out of here. so they put it in a unit so they can transport it up to the bronx and from there, there's certain things they're looking for. then there will be controlled detonation. from that perspective, then they're looking to see what the bombmaker's signature is, bombmakers are like bakers, they have a particular way of doing

things. tool marks, any kind of crimping on the wire, anything they can use to track down who did this and to link them to the other bombs that have obviously already been found. >> what about the fact that this happened so quickly, in a matter of 24 to 36 hours, george soros gets an explosive device in his mailbox and then two former presidents, and on and on. and john brennan-- >> hold on, we're going to break in and listen to vice president pence who is speaking right now. >> i saw the enthusiasm for his vision for america and i'm here today on his behalf and on my own for one reason and one reason only, pennsylvania and america need john shrand for the congress of the united states of america. >> that was not vice president

pence talking about what's happening. >> he has not addressed it. he has addressed it on twitter. we'll see if he includes this in his remarks. the fact that this is carried out in so many different cities. >> the one to soros was placed in the mailbox. but if they were mailed, there were a number of different devices at the same time. >> you look at commonalities, you look at commonalities in the device itself. and i imagine you also look at targets and whether there are commonalities of the targets. let's just state the obvious here, the folks and organizations targeted so far, ones that some see as critics of the president and that the president has directed anger at. do you look at that as you're trying to establish m.o. and then try to narrow down who the suspects are in question? >> what we do is, any time an

ied is sent out, the fbi assumes this is terrorism. there's a thing called the terrorism initiative. anything that we believe is terrorism related, the fbi is -- is there any type of anecdotal or forensic evidence that says these people are linked together. the answer is yes, but you don't want to exclude other things either, you want to keep an open mind on this thing, you don't want to profile, because you want to make sure that you don't say we're focused on this and then somebody else has a package over here. >> the first concern was that there were other potential devices out there which is true and which still could be true. >> what is the information that the investigators are trying to

get from this device, as they're looking at it right now, is it fingerprints, is it a profile of whatever powder may have been included to match it potentially to the others? >> the number one thing right now is crisis resolution, making sure that no one else gets hurt, there's no destruction of property, people getting hurt or destruction of property. then we move to crisis management. from the perspective of let's find the guys who did this, let's try to get out in front of this. obviously we want to make sure that there's no more devices sent out. >> this is an area, i mean you guys will remember, a few years ago, a saturday night when i was on the air, and there were these explosive devices placed in the trash cans in lower manhattan, and the surveillance camera is what was key here in tracking them down. you got to believe there's many

surveillance cameras around here. >> 8.6 million people, almost every square inch of this city is covered by surveillance cameras. we have easy pass, social media platforms. so many things that the fbi can use right now to track that. that is secondary, finding the guy s who did this and bringing them to justice, we got to make sure that no one else is in line to get these devices. >> poppy and i sending it back to you, jake. >> all right, thank you so much. something that i was talking about with art that i would like to bring you in on and there are a lot of weird and unsettling things about all this news starting with the device sent to george soros' home and obviously to the clintons, the obamas and then to cnn. the package to cnn was addressed to john brennan, the former fbi

director for president obama. john brennan does not work for cnn, john brennan has a commentating contract with nbc and msnbc. not with cnn. what would that fact mean to you as an investigator, that they're sending this to him to a place he does not work. is this somebody who's uninformed? is this somebody who's trying to throw us off the track? >> it does show a level of unsophistication. the package was mailed to ten time-warner center, which is not the actual address, if you google it, that will come up, that's the actual address for cnn but it's not the actual mailing address. this could be an individual going online pulling up addresses, but it does show a level of unsophistication that law enforcement will key into, how were these packages mailed, what was the return address, how was the label printed.

was it posted service or u.p.s., and was it hand delivered to george soros' mailbox. it appears that these had different points of delivery used to get them to their specific locations. >> there are some other news in san diego police, the san diego police are currently investigating a suspicious package and they have closed off a section of 58th after, where the tribune is located according to police officer billy hernandez. again, we don't know if this is just everybody on heightened alert, or if there are a whole lot more of these packages. >> we have seen this before, everybody's on heightened alert, so everything that doesn't look right is going to be reported. bomb squads around the country, unfortunately are going to be busy here for the next 24 hours, to determine if any of these other devices were out there, but a lot of reported suspicious packages are going to turn out

to be somebody's cookies, somebody's lunch, a package that got mailed from amazon or wherever, so it's going to be a busy time here for law enforcement for the next 24 to 48 hours. >> i want to go to josh campbell. and josh, you say the notion of, who these devices, these suspicious packages were mailed to, the fact that there is this common thread, that they are enemies of president trump, enemies of trumpism, at least they're perceived as being that, that that's important. >> reporter: it is important because as we start an investigation obviously we have a lot of questions, but if you're sitting at the joint task force division you start with what you know and that is a glaring commonality that the targets were democrats, progressives, brennan is the outlier who's been very critical of president trump. so you have to turn back and

determine what is motivating the person to do this. there's a forensic analysis, where they will determine if there's dna in these devices, maybe hair fiber, what's the construction, what's the material. but from a pure criminality standpoint, getting into the mind of the person who's doing this, you can't lose sight that that's targeting democrats or progressives. we don't know if that's the full story here, if we'll see more devices. now what investigators will be doing, no doubt fanning out, contacting other high profile officials, at least make them aware of what's going on already. look through their mail, look through their facilities in order to try to identify items like this before they come about. i also think it's important, jake, just from the pure construction and the totality of this year, none of these devices

seem to have been detonated. we're dealing with someone who's not a master bombmaker, that doesn't reduce the lethality, but it was something that could go from flash to bang and make these things detonate. we have seen these things in the past few years, people were sending crude device ares to military facilities and the law enforcement intelligence agencies, very crude devices, that didn't disrupt, they found the person in short order, again, very crude, very rude mea rudimentary, i don't think these devices would have detonated. it doesn't reduce the lethality, but i think this person will be caught sooner or later. >> just the similarities of this, there's been threats against all sorts of politicians. hold on a second, hillary

clinton is speaking right now. let's listen. >> public figures and a news organization. many of you and others across our country have asked after me and my family and i'm very grateful for that. we are fine, thanks to the men and women of the secret service who intercepted the package addressed to us long before it made its way to our home. every day we are grateful for their service and commitment and obviously never more than today. but it is a troubling time, isn't it? and it's a time of deep divisions, and we have to do everything we can to bring our country together.

we also have to elect can dadids who will try to do the same, who will set goals that will lift up every floridian and american, who will look into the future what are the challenges we have to meet today so that our children and our grandchildren have the quality of life and the opportunities to give hope to them. usually when people ask me how am i doing, which happens quite often. i say, well as a person, i'm great. as an american i'm worried. and it's actually for the same reasons. partly why i am so great is because with no offense to anyone, i have the most fabulous grandchildren in the entire world. but because i do now have these

little precious people, i worry about the direction of our country, i worry about what kind of -- >> all right, that's hillary clinton, we were just taking a little bit of that. she was commenting on the threat to her and her family, the suspicious package mailed to ch york. let me bring back josh campbell. and, josh, one of the things that she was talking about, hillary clinton was talking about was just the political violence that we have seen. by which i'm not referring to people referring to their first intention, people making threats to susan collins, people shooting a republican congressman playing baseball, bombs, or what appear to be bombs september to john brennan, care of cnn, the obamas, the

clintons, george soros. is there an era where there's been an actual increase in this. but historically. does this seem to be more of a problem now or are we all just paying more attention to it. >> it certainly speaks to how divisive this country has become. immediately after some kind of catastrophe, or it looks like an averted catastrophe with these devices. people always say it's too soon to start talking about the method of attack here. i think that's nonsense, because as a former investigator, i can tell you one group of people that are ultimately immediate lie lookily look at the attack, and you have the construction, how did this person gather the material, but there's also the motivation,

there's also the why, something motivated this person to do this. something inspired him, perhaps someone inspired him to do this, and if we don't identify what that is as a nation, we're whistling past the graveyard, these things are going to continue. the political debate will continue, obviously there will be a back and forth, but again in a situation like this, we need to get to a point where we're at least adult enough to find out what caused this to happen, what motivated this, that's the only way you're going to stop this from happening in the future. once this person is actually apprehended and brought into custody, we'll know the full scope of the investigation. but as an investigator, it's hard not to look at these commonalities on the one hand and see just how toxic the political climate has become on the other. >> i want to bring in ma'pamela brown, our white house correspondent. pamela, you have some news about a new threat? >> that's right, a law

enforcement source tells myself and my colleague josh campbell that there was a suspicious package that was addressed to the former attorney general eric holder, it was the wrong mailing address, the return address on that suspicious package was to debbie wasserman schultz, so that package was sent black to debby wasserman schultz, because that was the return address, so again, this is new information coming into our newsroom, according to law enforcement sources that there was an additional package addressed to the former attorney general eric holder under the obama administration, it was the wrong address, so it was returned according to the address on the package to debbie wasserman schultz. and there was sus pictupicious packages sent to the obamas, the clintons and soros, wasserman

schultz was the return address on those. the san diego union tribune, the building has been evacuated because there was a stack of suspicious-looking packages there. there's no indication at this early stage in the investigation whether those packages are connected in any way to the other suspicious packages that have been sent. >> pamela, just to underline this, we have been told by law enforcement sources that the return address on the package sent to george soros on monday was congresswoman debby wasserman schultz, pamela, you're telling us that the packages sent to the obamas and the clintons also had the debbie wasserman schultz return address. and we don't think that's real, we don't think that those packages were sent by debbie wasserman schultz.

and there was one cent tosent t holder and it was returned to the address of debbie wasserman schultz. clearly whoever was behind this put her return address on it and the package was sent to an address who this person either believed belonged to eric holder, the former attorney general, we don't really know the circumstances around that, but it was the wrong address, and so it was sent to the return address which was to debbie wasserman schultz, but again, we do not believe she was actually behind that, whoever was behind these suspicious packages put her return address on the package to george soros, as well as the obamas, the clintons and now we're learning ining the p that was sent to former attorney general eric holder. >> so we now have another package mailed to another

democratic, eric holder, the former attorney general under president obama, same pattern, this fake return address from debbie wasserman schultz, that democratic congresswoman, it doesn't sound like this actually interacted with eric holder or his office at all? >> reporter: no, and as we have been covering this, we have bee device that was addressed to the former attorney general, but it was the wrong address so it was actually returned to sender, as we have been reporting that return address listed as the former chairwoman of the dnc. investigators i'm told once they saw the return address, they knew obviously this wasn't the perpetrator, but it became part of this investigation, and then when they started connecting the dots between these particular devices, now a law enforcement person saying the devices

themselves have the same congressm commonality. the question is now are there other officials that are now on the lookout. obviously law enforcement officials as we mentioned will be pinging other law enforcement officials, saying, look, we're seeing an increased pattern here, that is the scary part about this, obviously there hasn't been a device detonated yet, but we're not in the clear yet because we're not sure at this point whether there are additional devices to come. >> let me bring back art broderick, use of a well known democratic congressman's return address is not funny, it's not mischievous, it has a particularly devious intention? >> absolutely, i mean that to me is to make the package an innocent type package. so that the person will open it. which could indicate that the triggering device for this particular bomb is the opening of the package. so to put debbie wasserman

schultz' return address on there and it gets mailed out to all democrats, they're going to look at this package and say oh, it's from congressman schultz and it explodes at this particular point in time. forensics will tell us that. but it's interesting that all the packages so far have had her return address on there, so that's going to be a key bit of information that law enforcement is going to blast out to everybody around the country, to make sure that everybody's aware, hey, if you're getting a package from debbie wasserman schultz, call us. >> double check. >> let's go through this list again, we know that one of these packages was sent to george soros, the obamas, the clintons, john brennan, care of cnn's new york office. and now attorney general holder. that's five of these devices, i mean, this person, it seems, wants it to kill a lot of people? >> yes, and the forensics will

tell us that. but it is quite obvious that they are targeting democrats here. you know, we have five packages, hopefully that will be it. i'm not on the optimistic side of this, it seems like every hour, something new turns up here. but that's a key bit of information that should be blasted out everywhere. >> let me bring in evan perez who has some new reporting on the incident going on in san diego, where they have shut down part of the street because of a suspicious package right here in san diego union tribune. evan? >> reporter: right, jake, and so the first reports came from the staffers for that newspaper, the san diego union tribune, but we're also told that inside that office building is also a field office for senator kamala harris of california. once again, this appears to fit the pattern that we have seen with the other devices, the other packages that are being investigated right now. as art pointed out, all appear to be directed at or involving

democrats. and obviously, kamala harris has been someone who's been front and center in the news, playing a big role in the kavanagh haerg hearings recently, so she and her high profile is sending those pack conditionagpackage. so law enforcement say these are obviously built by the same person, these devices while they're rudimentary, they're functional and they could hurt someone should they go off. that's the reason why there's been this reaction from washington and here in new york and now san diego. that office building there was evacuated in in downtown san diego appears is the home of the san diego union tribune as well as the office of senator kamala harris. >> but we don't know what's in that package right now, just to

be clear? >> reporter: we do not know what's in that package. the san diego police department says that these items were abandoned items, the police is now updating saying this device that they're investigating appears to be abandoned items, including a football, some books, a shoe among other items, and again, this is officer billy hernandez, which is the officer commenting there in san diego, so it appears that the package that was believed to be addressed to someone in that building, either the union tribune or kamala harris, it appears that they have decided that this is not something that is plosive device. the first package that got the attention of law enforcement, the one that was sent to george soros. i'm told by law enforcement source that one did not come through the mail, it was actually placed at that location. so it's not clear who put it

there, but perhaps that's another clue in this investigation that whoever placed it there may be connected, may be the person who's behind all of this and may have actually traveled to that location to drop off that package. jake? >> all right, evan perez, thanks so much for keeping us updated. let's go to new york where we're expecting any minute a briefing from the chief of the nypd as well as mayor debla blasio and governor cuomo. and athena jones is on site, athena, not to sound to alarm igs about this, if these packages are serious devices, rudimentary but serious, capable of causing serious mayhem, we're talking about serious mass murder, we're talking about five different devices that were sent to five different locations. where the intention was to kill as many people as possible.

>> that are's right, jake, we just got the two-minute warning, they're going to be briefing us very, very soon, as you mentioned, at least in this location, the time-warner center contains not just offices, several floors are offices, but also hundreds of shops. today nypd and all of our law enforcement departments

responded with a suspicious package. secured the area and began a search of the building. responding officers foimpbd s device that appeared to be an explosive device. and they removed it for investigation. additionally there was an envelope of white powder that was part of that packaging. the area has been swept with dogs and equipment and found no additional threats besides the white powder and we're working with our law enforcement partners, we responded quickly to secure the scene. and the nypd is securing areas around the city in an abundance of caution. if anyone sees something that looks suspicious, please call 911, anyone with information about this incident today, or

incidents in the new york city area, call 1-888-new york safe. >> thank you very much, commissioner. what we saw here today was an effort to terrorize, this clearly is an act of terror, attempting to undermine our free press and leaders of this country through acts of violence. i want to make very clear, the people in new york will not be intimidated. that we're going to go about our lives undeterred, because the very concept of terrorism is to change us and we will not allow that to happen. you cannot be terrorized if you refuse to allow the terrorists to win, people in the city have shown time and again that they stand up in the face of these efforts to intimidate. i want to thank the people of

new york city for the way they're handling this situation today. i also want to thank our first responders, commissioner, to you and all the men and women of the nypd, thank you for your extraordinary efforts to today, fdny, office of emergency management. our state partners, our federal partners, everyone works swiftly to address this situation and contain it. i also want to commend everyone at cnn with the professionalism with which they handled such a troubling incident. we at this time do not have other credible and specific threats against locations in new york city. i want to let all new yorkers know you can go about your daily routine knowing the nypd and all these other agencies are here to protect you. it's important to note that this is ongoing investigation as we have more information, we will provide it. but i emphasize, there is no specific threat against any other location in this city at

this time. that said, the nypd and all our partners have re-enforced our very clear and visible presence at key locations around new york city and other important locations. so you will see a lot more police presence, that should be reassuring to all new yorkers. finally i want to say, this is a very painful time in our nation. it's a time when people are feeling a lot of hatred in the air. and incidents like this exacerbate that pain and exacerbate that fear. we cannot let the acts of a very few change who we are. it's really important at a moment like this to remember, the vast majority of americans, the vast majority of new yorkers are good people. trying to live in peace with each other.

there are a few people, we don't know who they are today, but there are a few people trying to tear us apart through acts of violence. it is imperative that we ensure they fail. it is imperative that we act as the good and decent people that we are. this is a moment in history that's painful, but it will pass. this too shall pass. the most important thing is to remember that the nypd and the fdny are out to make sure that people are safe and can go about their business in the city. >> thank you, mayor, thank you, commissioner. first, let's remember that we have the best police force and the best law enforcement agencies on the globe. we want to thank the fbi and the

secret service and the terrorism task force have all worked together and have coordinate and we should take comfort in that level of professionalism that we have in this city and in this state. as everyone is aware, there have been a number of packages that have been received. last night the secret service detected a package at the residence of president clinton and hillary rodham clinton. they notified the state police and the nypd. we personally checked on the president's residence at 4:13 this morning. and everyone was fine there. and we have the cnn package. and i want to echo the

professionalism with which cnn has handled the situation and the cooperation that they have brought to this situation. so i would like to thank them for that. this is the world we live in. terrorism, the attempt to spread fear is the world that we live in. it is heightened lately, the mayor's exactly right. there are more tensions than usual. but this is the world we live in. also a little perspective. the first terrorist attack in new york city was 1993. 25 years ago. was the bombing of the world

trade center. so this is nothing new. we have lived with this a long time. actually my father was governor at that time. this has been a circumstance of being who we are and where we are. we are new york and we are an international icon and so we're an international target. terrorism only works if you let it work. what they are trying to do is scare us and destabilize us and we will not allow that to happen. we are new yorkers, we are smart, we are tough, we are resilie resilient. and we will not allow these terrorist thugs to change the way we live our lives. they fail unless we allow them to win. and we will not allow them to win. now as the commissioner said,

you'll see increased police presence from the nypd, from the state police, from the mta police, from the board authority police, you shouldn't be alarmed, there will be more police on subways, more police on the streets, more police at crossings. as the mayor said, that's not because we know any specific threat, it is just a precaution because we are smart. and we have the best talent on the globe when it comes to this. so we will take every precaution we can. but we will not let terrorism win. not today, not ever. thank you. >> good afternoon, i'm the special agent in charge, brian paarmann. the special agent in charge of the fbi's joint terrorism task

force here in new york city. as the governor outlined, this begins on monday night with a package that was delivered to a residence in westchester county, that was responded to by the westchester county police, the bedford police, and fbi special agent bomb technicians, that package was disrupted and taken to the fbi. and there was a package delivered to the clinton residence at chappaqua, new york, that is also going to the fbi crime lab. then the secret service notified us that they had received an almost identical package at the residence of the obamas. we went the day before to the first individual that was targeted. today we went to media outlets

and television, and in fact, when the package was discovered here in the city in that mail room, we had nypd personnel present who were showing them what these look like and what to be on the lookout for. so at this point, we are talk g talking -- it appears that the individualor individuals sent out multiple packages, we have been working with the nypd shield program which goes to approximately 20,000 of our private security partners instructing them on what to look for, what the characteristics are and renewed tips on handling of suspicious packages. at this point we're at a very

stage of the investigation, this is being led by the joint task force here in new york city, along with the nypd. we have had assistance from the nypd and assistance from the bureau of alcohol, tobacco and firearms. so it's a group effort. once the package was discovered, emergency services was notified. they called the bomb squad, the bomb squad was able to safely remove a device contained in that package, using the total containment vessel, or in simple terms the bomb truck, that is going through our range at broadman's net, where special agent bomb technicians are working on how to get it to that next stop which is the fbi lab, so all of these can be examined together. there is an additional issue that is being worked on now, and

that is within the package which contained the special device, there is also some kind of powder that's being tested now downstairs. so the mail room area is still being contained while we go through the various steps to test that. a field test, package it up safely for remove and deacon that area and anybody that came in contact with it. >> keep in mind, this just happens a couple of hours ago, and it's still ongoing, i'm going to take some questions, not going to be able to go too deep into it. >> can you talk about these targeting people who would have been criticized by the president? >> take a look at who's being targeted right here, right now. that's why we're doing this proactively. we're reaching out to people throughout the city, people who do their security and making sure their mail rooms follow proper protocol and we're reaching out to the right people.