WASHINGTON (AP) — A law enforcement official says a second package addressed to former Vice President Joe Biden has been intercepted at a mail facility in Wilmington, Delaware.

The official says it has similar markings and characteristics as the packages containing bombs sent to other prominent Democrats.

The official said another package addressed to Biden was also found Thursday morning, that one at a postal center in New Castle, Delaware.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio is hailing the "quick-witted work" of a security guard who alerted authorities to a suspicious device at Robert De Niro's Manhattan office.

Two officials told The Associated Press on Thursday that a person working at the building with a law-enforcement background called police after seeing images of a package bomb sent to CNN and recalling a similar package addressed to De Niro.

De Blasio said: "Thank God there were no injuries."

De Blasio said the device removed from De Niro's office "was very similar to the devices that have located within the last 48 hours" at CNN and locations connected to prominent Democrats.

He said all of them appear to be from the same sender and it's "clearly an effort to terrorize people politically, to choose people for political purposes and attack them because of their beliefs."

De Blasio said the device is being examined at an NYPD facility in the Bronx.

The FBI is confirming packages addressed to former Vice President Joe Biden and actor Robert De Niro are similar in appearance to those used to send bombs to prominent Democrats.

The FBI provided the update in a tweet Thursday morning.

New York City police early Thursday recovered a package addressed to De Niro with the same return address used on the other packages.

A law enforcement official said two packages addressed to Biden were intercepted at Delaware mail facilities in New Castle and Wilmington.

The official wasn't authorized to discuss an ongoing investigation publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Pipe bombs addressed to Hillary Clinton, former President Barack Obama, former CIA director John Brennan and former Attorney General Eric Holder have also been intercepted in recent days.

Law enforcement officials say the suspected explosive device sent to Robert De Niro may have been sitting in the mailroom of his building for a day or more before it was discovered.

Two officials told The Associated Press on Thursday that a person affiliated with the Tribeca Film Center was off work when he saw an image on the Internet and elsewhere of the package containing a crude pipe bomb sent to CNN.

That person, who has a background in law enforcement, recalled seeing a similar package at the film center mailroom earlier and reported it to police.

Emergency service officers were dispatched early Thursday to retrieve it. It had the same return address used on the other packages. An official said it was suspected to have been delivered earlier this week.

A law enforcement official says a second package addressed to former Vice President Joe Biden has been intercepted at a mail facility in Wilmington, Delaware.

The official says it has similar markings and characteristics as the packages containing bombs sent to other prominent Democrats.

The official said another package addressed to Biden was also found Thursday morning, that one at a postal center in New Castle, Delaware.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders says the notion that President Donald Trump is responsible for the packages sent to his opponents is "disgraceful."

She told reporters Thursday there's a big difference between "comments made and actions taken."

 

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