Federal authorities have launched an investigation after pipe bombs were sent to a number of prominent Democrats, all critics of President Trump. The targets identified include President Obama, Hillary Clinton, George Soros, former Attorney General Eric Holder, Congressmember Maxine Waters and former CIA Director John Brennan. The packages listed Democratic Congressmember Debbie Wasserman Schultz as the return address. Police are also investigating a suspicious package sent to former Vice President Joe Biden and a suspicious package found today at actor Robert De Niro’s restaurant in New York. On Wednesday, CNN was forced to evacuate its New York office after it received what police described as a “live explosive device” along with a container of white powder. It came in a package addressed to Brennan. All of the targets have been vilified by President Trump in the past. Authorities said it remains unclear if the devices were operable bombs or designed to look like bombs. No one has been hurt by the devices. We speak to former FBI agent Mike German and Chapman University professor Pete Simi, who has studied political violence for decades.
Guests
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fellow at Brennan Center for Justice at New York University Law School. From 1988 to 2004, he served as an FBI agent specializing in domestic counterterrorism. He’s the author of Thinking Like a Terrorist: Insights of a Former FBI Undercover Agent.
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professor of sociology at Chapman University. He’s co-author of the book American Swastika: Inside the White Power Movement’s Hidden Spaces of Hate.
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