Trump Denounces Attempted Bomb Attacks as ‘Despicable Acts’
WASHINGTON — President Trump on Wednesday denounced the attempted bomb attacks on several prominent Democratic Party figures and called for national unity, despite months of using highly divisive rhetoric at campaign rallies ahead of the coming midterm elections.
Mr. Trump referred to the mailed pipe bombs as “despicable acts,” as law enforcement officials across the country scrambled to identify the person or people behind the packages.
“In these times we have to unify, we have to come together and send one very clear, strong, unmistakable message that acts or threats of political violence of any kind have no place in the United States of America,” Mr. Trump said before a planned event at the White House about efforts to combat the opioid epidemic.
The president’s call for national unity comes after months of attacks on Democrats and what he has called the “Radical Democrat Mob.” Mr. Trump was scheduled to leave for Wisconsin later on Wednesday for another campaign rally in the lead-up to the midterm elections in November, when Republicans’ control of Congress is at stake.
In his remarks at the White House, Mr. Trump said the packages of explosives were sent to “current and former high-ranking government officials,” without specifying the intended recipients: former President Barack Obama; the former Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton; John O. Brennan, the former C.I.A. director; and Representative Maxine Waters, Democrat of California — four of the president’s favorite political targets. Another device apparently intended for the man who served as Mr. Obama’s attorney general, Eric H. Holder Jr., was misaddressed.
The package for Mr. Brennan, which included an unidentified white powder, was sent to the New York offices of CNN, the cable news network that the president regularly denigrates. New York’s mayor, Bill de Blasio, called the attempted bombings “an effort to terrorize.”
Mr. Brennan has been an outspoken critic of Mr. Trump’s, ultimately leading the president to strip him of his security clearance. Mr. Brennan works as a paid consultant to MSNBC, not CNN. The return address on the package sent to CNN was that of Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz, Democrat of Florida and a former Democratic National Committee chairwoman.
The packages addressed to Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton were discovered by the Secret Service during routine mail screenings.
Later on Wednesday afternoon, a package addressed to Ms. Waters was intercepted at a congressional mail center. At a campaign rally over the summer, Mr. Trump told his supporters that Ms. Waters had a “very low I.Q.”
Mrs. Clinton, the president’s onetime political opponent, has been a consistent target for Mr. Trump and the subject of right-wing conspiracy theories.
During the 2016 presidential campaign, Mr. Trump’s rallies erupted into “lock her up” chants, which have made a comeback two years later, even though Mrs. Clinton is a private citizen and not running for any office.
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo of New York said that his office in Manhattan had also received a device. It was not immediately clear if it was related to the ones sent to Mrs. Clinton, Mr. Obama or CNN.
A similar device on Monday was sent to the New York home of George Soros, the billionaire philanthropist and a top Democratic donor who has been cast as a villain in right-wing conspiracy theories.
The first lady, Melania Trump, spoke before her husband on Wednesday. “We cannot tolerate those cowardly attacks, and I strongly condemn all who choose violence,” she said.
When Mr. Trump stepped to the podium after his wife spoke, he first thanked Mrs. Trump and Vice President Mike Pence’s wife, Karen, for their efforts in combating the opioid epidemic. After that, he said he wanted to provide “an update” on the pipe bombs and the investigation.
By saying that this type of political violence has no place in America, Mr. Trump said he was making a “very bipartisan statement.”
“I can tell you from both sides we both agree on that,” Mr. Trump said. “This egregious conduct is abhorrent to everything we hold dear and sacred as Americans.”