Cesar Sayoc, 56, faces up to 58 years in prison.
T he Justice Department brought five charges against Cesar Sayoc, 56, for allegedly mailing 13 pipe bombs to prominent former and current Democratic leaders, government officials, and CNN.
In a press conference after Sayoc was arrested in south Florida on Friday morning, Attorney General Jeff Sessions said the federal charges included interstate transportation of an explosive, illegal mailing of explosives, making threats against former presidents and others, making interstate communications, and assaulting current and former federal officers.
“This is a law and order administration. We will not tolerate such lawlessness, especially not political violence,” said Sessions. Under the charges, Sayoc faces up to 58 years in prison.
Throughout the week, suspicious packages containing the improvised pipe bombs were discovered targeting top Democratic politicians, notable critics of President Donald Trump, and former officials within the executive branch, including Barack Obama, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, former Attorney General Eric Holder, Maxine Waters, Cory Booker, John Brennan, James Clapper, George Soros, and Robert De Niro. Those packages were intercepted, and nobody has been hurt.
FBI Director Christopher Wray said on Friday that he believes law enforcement caught the right guy, but “today’s arrest does not mean we are all out of the woods. There may be more packages in transit now.” The investigation is ongoing.
Wray told reporters that investigators linked the pipe bombs to Sayoc by finding a fingerprint and matching the suspect’s DNA on the envelope sent to Waters. “This is phenomenal work with the greatest pressure under an incredibly tight time frame,” Wray said, thanking the FBI agents who conducted the analysis.
Pushing back on rampant partisan conspiracy-mongering related to the case, Wray emphasized that the bombs were indeed dangerous. « Though we’re still analyzing the devices in our laboratory, these are not hoax devices, » he said.
Earlier in the day, Trump addressed the matter in a tweet, complaining about the potential effect the pipe bombs could have on the midterms. « 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, » he wrote . « Very unfortunate, what is going on. »
He later said at an event at the White House that “these terrorizing acts are despicable and have no place in our country.”
“We must never allow political violence to take root in America,” he added.
