Authorities said Wednesday they had intercepted a letter to the White House that tested positive for ricin poison.
The
Secret Service acknowledged the letter addressed to President Obama
contained a suspicious substance, and the FBI later said tests showed it
was ricin, the same deadly toxin sent in a letter addressed to Sen.
Roger Wicker. The Wicker letter was made public on Tuesday.
News
that the letter to Obama was being investigated came as a flurry of
other reports of suspicious letters and a package caused the evacuation
of parts of two Senate buildings and set nerves in Washington on edge.
The
letter contained “a granular substance that preliminarily tested
positive for ricin,” an FBI statement said. But the statement added:
“There is no indication of a connection to the attack in Boston,” where
three people were killed in bombings at the Boston Marathon on Monday.
The Secret Service said the letter to Obama was received at a mail screening facility on Tuesday.
“This
facility routinely identifies letters or parcels that require secondary
screening or scientific testing before delivery,” the Secret Service
said in a statement. “The Secret Service White House mail screening
facility is a remote facility, not located near the White House complex,
that all White House mail goes through.”
“The
Secret Service is working closely with the U.S. Capitol Police and the
FBI in this investigation,” Secret Service spokesman Edwin Donovan said
in a statement.
Parts
of the Russell and Hart Senate office buildings were cleared while
officials investigated suspicious letters and a package, a Capitol
Police spokesman said.
CNN
read a statement from a spokesman to Senator Richard Shelby, saying
that Capitol Police were investigating a suspicious package that had
been delivered to their office.
Senator
Carl Levin said one of his Michigan regional offices had received a
suspicious-looking letter, but it was not opened. Authorities are
investigating, Levin said in a statement.
On
Tuesday U.S. authorities intercepted a letter sent to Mississippi
Senator Roger Wicker that preliminary tests showed contained the deadly
poison ricin.
Ricin
from the castor oil plant Ricinus communis, is a highly toxic,
naturally occurring protein. A dose as small as a few grains of table
salt can kill an adult human.
White
House press secretary Jay Carney said Obama had been briefed twice on
the investigation. “He was briefed last night and again this morning,”
Carney said.
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