The FBI and the US Postal Division are investigating suspicious packages obtained by election officers in 17 states.
Federal investigators mentioned they have been accumulating the packages and that some contained “an unknown substance”, although there have been no experiences of accidents.
They have been despatched to secretaries of state and state election officers throughout a swathe of the nation from New York to Alaska.
It comes amid experiences of rising threats directed at election officers throughout the US and warnings of political violence as November’s presidential election approaches.
The FBI and US Postal Division mentioned they have been attempting to find out what number of letters have been despatched and who was behind them, in addition to their motive.
“Among the letters contained an unknown substance and we’re working intently with our legislation enforcement companions to answer every incident and safely gather the letters,” the companies mentioned in a press release to BBC’s US companion CBS Information.
The Related Press information company reported that packages have been despatched to election officers in Alaska, Georgia, Connecticut, Indiana, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Missouri, New York, Rhode Island, Iowa, Mississippi, Colorado, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Wyoming.
Colorado Secretary of State Jena Griswold wrote in a submit on X, previously Twitter, that whoever posted the letters had referred to as themselves because the “US Traitor Elimination Military”.
Officers in not less than 4 of the states mentioned there was no risk posed by the substances discovered within the packages. In Oklahoma, the Board of Elections mentioned the substance was discovered to be flour.
In an interview with CBS, Michigan Secretary of State Jocelyn Benson, a Democrat, mentioned her workplace was receiving threats day by day by voicemails, emails, social media or in individual, including that “it’s escalating”.
This isn’t the primary time suspicious mail was mailed to US election places of work.
Final November, places of work in Georgia, Nevada, California, Oregon and Washington have been despatched envelopes with fentanyl or different substances.
Federal investigators are individually questioning a gunman who was discovered lurking in bushes on a Florida golf course the place Trump was placing on Sunday.
