The AP reports, the U.S. Secret Service has intercepted a letter addressed to Obama that contained a “suspicious substance.” A law enforcement official said the letter is very similar to one recently mailed to Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Mississippi). That letter tested positive Tuesday for poisonous ricin. (H/t Kelleigh)
CBS-DC, the network affiliate in Washington, DC, reports the FBI says the letters sent to Obama and Wicker are related and are both postmarked out of Memphis, Tenn., dated April 8.
In an intelligence bulletin obtained by The Associated Press, the FBI says the letters both say: “To see a wrong and not expose it, is to become a silent partner to its continuance.” Both letters are signed, “I am KC and I approve this message.”
The FBI says the substance in both letters have preliminarily tested positive for ricin, a potentially fatal poison. The letters are undergoing further testing because preliminary field tests can be unreliable, creating false positives.
The FBI also says the poison letters are unrelated to the Boston Marathon terrorist bombings two days ago, although how the FBI knows that is not clear.
Ricin (pron.: /ˈraɪsɪn/), 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.
The Daily Caller reports that a “suspicious packages” received by Sen. Richard Shelby’s office in the Russell Senate Office Building, led to a temporary shutdown of the Russell and Hart Senate buildings, as well as the stoppage of all mail deliveries to Capitol Hill. A bomb squad was called in. No poison was found on the letters and the buildings just reopened.
MyWay reports that police have a suspect in mind for the poison letter to Sen. Wicker. “The person that is a suspect writes a lot of letters to members,” Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said yesterday, as she emerged from a classified briefing.
~Eowyn
