VIDEO - 'Potential Explosive Devices' Sent to Hillary Clinton's Chappaqua Home, President Obama in Washington, D.C.: Secret Service - NBC New York

The incidents come days after a bomb was planted in the mailbox of George Soros' Bedford home, about 10 miles from Chappaqua

By Jonathan Dienst

Published 41 minutes ago | Updated 3 minutes ago

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U.S. Secret Service says agents intercepted two suspicious packages -- ones thought to be potential explosive devices -- that were sent to Hillary Clinton at her Chappaqua home and to former President Obama in Washington, D.C.

Secret Service says it recovered the Clinton package late Tuesday; the parcel addressed to Obama was intercepted early Wednesday.

The nature of the contents of the packages wasn't immediately clear, but two senior law enforcement officials had told News 4 the concern in the Clinton case was that it was similar to the bomb found in the mailbox of billionaire philanthropist George Soros' home in the same county days earlier.

"The packages were immediately identified during routine mail screening procedures as potential explosive devices and were appropriately handled as such," Secret Service said in a statement. "The protectees did not receive the packages nor were they at risk of receiving them." 

Device in the Mailbox of George Soros Had Bomb

Secret Service says it has initiated a "full scope criminal investigation that will leverage all available federal, state, and local resources to determine the source of the packages and identify those responsible."

No one was hurt in the Soros case, which happened at his home in Bedford, about 10 miles apart from Chappaqua. It's not clear if the New York cases, both in Westchester County, are thought to be related.

In Soros' case, an employee noticed the package, put it in a wooded area and called police, who alerted the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Firearms and Explosives. A law enforcement source told NBC 4 New York that the device contained explosive powder; it was detonated as a precaution.

Investigators are reviewing surveillance video to determine whether the package was sent via mail or otherwise delivered.

The FBI is working with police to figure out who sent the device, which a senior law enforcement official said was similar to a pipe bomb. A law enforcement source says evidence was sent to the FBI lab in Quantico for testing. 

Should the package at the Clintons' turn out to be a similar device, it would be the second such attack on liberal heavyweights in the county. 

Explosive Device Found in NY Mailbox at Home of George Soros

Soros, a billionaire who made his fortune in hedge funds, has donated heavily to liberal causes and is vilified on the right. He is also the subject of many unfounded conspiracy theories. Recently, conservative critics have, without evidence, accused him of secretly financing a caravan of Central American migrants to make their way north toward Mexico and the U.S.Others have falsely accused him of being a Nazi collaborator during World War II, when he was a child in Hungary. 

Activists frequently post the addresses of homes he owns in Westchester County on social media sometimes accompanied by ill wishes. 

Soros' foundation, The Open Society Foundation, released a statement Tuesday condemning "the politics of hate that dominates our discourse today." 

"In this climate of fear, falsehoods, and rising authoritarianism, just voicing your views can draw death threats," the statement continued. "George Soros deplores violence of any kind, and urges politicians across the political spectrum to tone down their rhetoric. Words have consequences, and we bear a collective responsibility to create a more civil way to discuss our political differences. Respect for a diversity of opinions is fundamental to open society and that is the work that George Soros has devoted his life to. Our politics should be more about what we’re for than who we hate."

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/investigations/Bomb-Hillary-Clinton-House-Chappaqua-New-York-George-Soros-498411611.html