Florida Man Arrested In Connection To Explosives Sent To Trump Critics

Authorities have arrested a Florida man in connection to at least 12 explosive devices that were sent this week to a group of prominent Democrats and Trump critics, including former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden, Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters, and Sen. Cory Booker, CNN reports.

There will be a press conference at the Department of Justice at 2 p.m. EST to address the developments.

The devices, which resembled pipe bombs, were mailed to political targets frequently criticised by President Donald Trump and right-wing figures. Authorities believe all of the suspicious packages came from the same sender.

Trump made an effort to condemn the violence, saying "acts or threats of political violence of any kind have no place in the United States of America." But then he went on to blame the media for the attacks and the "anger we see today in our society," even though he frequently has peddled conspiracy theories about the bomb targets and has used inflammatory rhetoric against his political enemies.

On Friday, Trump seemed to cast doubt on the veracity of the attacks and encouraged his voters to focus on the midterm election instead, tweeting: "Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this 'Bomb' stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows - news not talking politics. Very unfortunate, what is going on. Republicans, go out and vote."

Ahead, everything we know so far about the attempted bombings. We'll continue to update this story as more information comes to light.

George Soros: The philanthropist billionaire, who is the frequent target of right-wing and anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, received a suspicious package at his home in New York Monday. The explosive device was detonated by the authorities.

Hillary Clinton: The package aimed at the former secretary of state was intercepted late Tuesday during a routine mail inspection conducted by the Secret Service. It was addressed to the Clintons' residence in New York.

President Barack Obama: The package was intercepted early Wednesday during a routine mail inspection conducted by the Secret Service. It was addressed to Obama's D.C. office.

John Brennan: A "live explosive device" addressed to the former CIA director and MSNBC contributor was delivered to CNN's offices in New York City. Authorities also found an envelope containing white powder, though they latter said the substance didn't pose a biological threat.

Eric Holder: A suspicions package was addressed to the former attorney general, but its return address was Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz's Florida office. Schultz is also the former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). After failing to reach Holder, the package was received at Schultz's office Wednesday.

Rep. Maxine Waters: The Democratic congresswoman was targeted with two packages Wednesday: One sent to her office in Washington, D.C. and another was found at a postal office in Los Angeles.

Joe Biden: Authorities located two packages addressed to the former vice president, both found at two separate Delaware post offices.

Robert De Niro: The actor and Clinton donor received the package at the New York office of his company TriBeCa Productions on Wednesday and authorities removed it early Thursday after an employee called the NYPD.

Sen. Cory Booker: On Friday morning, authorities said they had discovered a suspicious package addressed to the New Jersey Democrat at a at a postal facility in Opa-locka, FL.

James Clapper: A package addressed to the former director of national intelligence was found by authorities at a mail sorting facility in New York. The package was meant to be sent to CNN's New York offices, since Clapper is a contributor at the network.

CNN is reporting that a Florida man has been apprehended in connection to the explosives. Investigators from the FBI, Secret Service, the United States Postal Inspection Service (USPIS), and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) are working together in New York and other cities to determined who is behind the attempted attacks and why.

According to the New York Times, officials are focusing their investigation on Florida. At the moment, they believe some of the devices were mailed from the southern part of the state, likely passing through a mail facility near the Miami area.

“This investigation is of the highest priority for the FBI. We have committed the full strength of the FBI’s resources and, together with our partners on our Joint Terrorism Task Forces, we will continue to work to identify and arrest whoever is responsible for sending these packages,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said in a statement Wednesday. “We ask anyone who may have information to contact the FBI. Do not hesitate to call; no piece of information is too small to help us in this investigation.”

Anyone with information about the packages should contact the agency at 1-800-CALL-FBI or via tips.fbi.gov.