Agents cover a van parked in Plantation, Fla., on Oct 26. Federal agents and police officers have been examining the vehicle in connection with package bombs that were sent to high-profile critics of President Trump. (WPLG-TV)
Federal authorities on Friday detained a Florida man in connection with the spate of suspicious, potentially explosive devices sent to prominent critics of President Trump in recent days.
The man, Cesar Sayoc Jr., 56, was taken into custody by an FBI SWAT team near State Road 7 in Plantation, Fla., according to law enforcement officials. Local television stations showed images of a white van near an AutoZone store being covered with a blue plastic tarp and towed away by law enforcement.
Sayoc, who has a prior arrest for making a threat with an explosive, is not a Florida native but lives in Aventura in northern Miami-Dade County, according to the officials, who were not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.
Public records reveal an arrest record that includes 20 criminal charges, the latest related to a 2015 theft. He has also been charged with battery and possession and distribution of illegal drugs, and filed for personal bankruptcy in 2012, according to public records. He was arrested in 2002 for making a threat to discharge a destructive device,
Trump was briefed on the arrest by the FBI and Justice Department, according to White House spokesman Hogan Gidley.
Less than two hours after tweeting dismissively about the bombing attacks, Trump celebrated the arrest during an event with young African American leaders at the White House.
"These terrorizing acts are despicable and have no place in our country," Trump said, promising that the justice system will be tough on the perpetrator. "We will prosecute them — him, her, whoever it may be — to the fullest extent of the law."
A spokeswoman for the Department of Justice, Sarah Isgur Flores, said on Twitter that the department would hold a news conference at 11:30 a.m. Pacific to discuss the case.
In the 2012 bankruptcy filing, Sayoc said he was unmarried, lived with his mother and owned no furniture; his vehicle was a 2001 Chevy Taho with 285,000 miles on it. He reported collecting unemployment support in 2009 and 2010. For at least a year, he said he worked as a store manager earning $13,000 a year for Hassanco Investment, Inc., in Hollywood, Fla..
The law office for the attorney who represented him in the bankruptcy case, Christian Olson, declined to comment.
In December 2013 Sayoc was charged with felony grand theft and battery for an incident Nov. 28, 2013. He pleaded no contest in May 2014 and was placed on a year’s probation. He violated the terms of his probation in January 2015 and was rearrested, court records show. He pleaded no contest in 2015 to petty theft and was placed on another year of probation.
Earlier Friday, the FBI found two more packages with suspicious devices — sent to Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and to former Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper.
Another suspicious package sent to California Sen. Kamala Harris’ Sacramento office was also being examined, but it was unclear if the package was related to the others, according to a law enforcement official.
Before the arrest, Trump downplayed the seriousness of the acts of terrorism as a political ploy intended to help Democrats.
“Republicans are doing so well in early voting, and at the polls, and now this ‘Bomb’ stuff happens and the momentum greatly slows - news not talking politics,” Trump tweeted early Friday. “Very unfortunate, what is going on. Republicans, go out and vote!”
Trump’s tweet was in direct contradiction to law enforcement officials, who said repeatedly at a Thursday news conference that the devices need to be treated as potentially dangerous and active bombs, even if they did not detonate. They have also called the plot an act of terrorism.
Trump’s tweet, on the edge of embracing “false flag” conspiracy theories about the packages, is yet another striking departure from normal presidential behavior in the face of such acts.
The FBI confirmed the package to Booker on its social media account, saying it was recovered at a U.S. Postal Service facility in Florida and was similar in appearance to others directed toward prominent figures including President Obama, Hillary Clinton, former Vice President Joe Biden, former Atty. Gen. Eric H. Holder Jr., investor and philanthropist George Soros, actor Robert De Niro and Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles).
New York City police said the Clapper package — sent care of CNN’s New York office, like a similar package directed toward former CIA Director John Brennan earlier in the week — was discovered at a mail facility in Manhattan, forcing the temporary evacuation of residents, a post office and a nearby educational facility.
“This is definitely domestic terrorism. No question about it in my mind,” Clapper told CNN.
Clapper and Booker, like the other targets, have clashed publicly with Trump. But even as the targets share commonalities, authorities have still not established a motive or named a suspect.
Law enforcement officials have said at least some of the packages were sent from South Florida. They are marked with the return address of Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a Florida Democrat who previously led the Democratic National Committee.
Trump previously called Clapper the “world’s dumbest former intelligence head, who has the problem of lying a lot.”
Trump has also accused Clapper, who served in the Obama administration, of lying to Congress.
Booker, a Democrat believed to have presidential ambitions, is a frequent target of Trump in his political rallies.
Trump briefly called for unity in the face of the attacks but has since lashed out at his critics, saying he has been unfairly blamed.
Wasserman Schultz, speaking to reporters in South Florida on Friday, called the perpetrator “sinister,” “evil” and “horrific.”
“I really don’t know,” she said, when asked why her return address was used. She said the moment pointed to the need for political comity. “None of us should be treating our opponents like the enemy.”
Staff writers Sarah D. Wire in Washington D.C. and Matt Pearce in Los Angeles contributed to this story.
10:50 a.m.: This article was updated with details about Sayoc.
9:55 a.m.: This article was updated with Trump’s comments.
9:30 a.m.: This article was updated with details about Cesar Sayoc Jr..
9:15 a.m.: This article was updated with the detained man’s name.
8:45 a.m.: This article was updated with more details about the man taken into custody and another possible suspicious package sent to Sen. Kamala Harris.
8:30 a.m.: This article was updated with details about the man arrested
8:05 a.m.: This article was updated with the authorities announcing someone has been taken into custody in the case.
7:35 a.m.: This article was updated with Trump’s tweet and staff reporting.
6:30 a.m.: This article was updated to include reports of an intercepted suspicious package addressed to former Director of National Intelligence James R. Clapper.
This article was originally published at 6 a.m.
