An envelope addressed to Donald Trump has been found to contain a substance suspected to be the highly toxic substance, ricin.
A Secret Service spokesman told CNN “the Secret Service can confirm receipt of a suspicious envelope addressed to the President on 1 Oct, 2018.”
“The envelope was not received at the White House, nor did it ever enter the White House,” the spokesman continued.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Federal authorities confirmed that two similar packages, also suspected to contain the lethal poison, were mailed to two senior Pentagon officials; defence secretary Jim Mattis and Admiral John Richardson, the chief of US naval operations.
The Pentagon put all of its mail under quarantine yesterday after the packages suspected of containing the poison were identified, The New York Times reports.
Those packages have been turned over to the Federal Bureau of Investigation for further analysis.
“All threats directed towards the President, or any Secret Service protectee, are treated seriously and fully investigated,” the Secret Service said in a statement.
The suspicious packages have caused a heightened level of security on government and military facilities around the United States.
“We are maintaining our vigilance for all packages coming into not just the Pentagon but facilities worldwide,” a defence official told the Washington Post, speaking on the condition of anonymity.
Ricin is a poison “found naturally in castor beans”, Time says, which can be made into a “partially purified material or refined into a terrorist or warfare agent”.
People can become exposed to the poison through the “air, contaminated food or water”, according to the US Centre for Disease Control.
-
‘City leaders must recognize its residents as part of its lifeblood’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem might not be long for TrumplandIN THE SPOTLIGHT She has been one of the most visible and vocal architects of Trump’s anti-immigration efforts, even as her own star risks fading
-
Indiana Senate rejects Trump’s gerrymander pushSpeed Read The proposed gerrymander would have likely flipped the state’s two Democratic-held US House seats
-
Will there be peace before Christmas in Ukraine?Today's Big Question Discussions over the weekend could see a unified set of proposals from EU, UK and US to present to Moscow
-
‘The menu’s other highlights smack of the surreal’Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
Constitutional rights are at the center of FBI agents’ lawsuitIn the Spotlight The agents were photographed kneeling during a racial justice protest
-
$1M ‘Trump Gold Card’ goes live amid travel rule furorSpeed Read The new gold card visa offers an expedited path to citizenship in exchange for $1 million
-
US seizes oil tanker off VenezuelaSpeed Read The seizure was a significant escalation in the pressure campaign against Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro
