There's breaking news in the nation's capital, where a letter containing a "suspicious substance" was intercepted before being delivered to the White House and where police on Wednesday were investigating other reports of suspicious packages delivered to Senate offices. We're following the news. Scroll down to see our updates. (See this note about how we cover events such as this.)
Our original post:
"A letter addressed to the president containing a suspicious substance" was received Tuesday at "the remote White House mail screening facility," the Secret Service confirmed Wednesday morning in an email to NPR's Ari Shapiro.
We don't have any more information at this time about what authorities think that substance might be. But this follows the news from Tuesday that an envelope sent to the office of Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss., tested positive for the poison ricin in initial tests.
There's also a report this hour from ABC News' Terry Moran that "@ABC has learned a SECOND letter sent to the US Senate has tested positive for the poison ricin." It's unclear whether ABC's sources might be mixed up and that there's only one new letter -- to the president -- or that there are now two additional letters.
We'll watch for more and update.
Update at 12:15 p.m. ET. Staff Told To Avoid Area.
This announcement was just made over the public address system in the Senate office buildings, NPR's Tamara Keith tells us:
"The U.S. Capitol police are continuing to investigate the suspicious packages in the first and third floors of the Hart senate office building. All staff and other personnel are to avoid this area until further notice."
Bear in mind: These type of situations do occur occasionally on Capitol Hill. Today's events are getting more attention, obviously, because they closely follow Monday's bombing at the Boston Marathon and the suspicious letter sent to Wicker.
Update at 12:07 p.m. ET. Package To Sen. Shelby:
A spokesman for Sen. Richard Shelby, R-Ala., says Capitol Police are investigating a "suspicious package" that arrived at the senator's office this morning, CNN says.
Update at noon ET. On The Police Activity On Capitol Hill:
Politico now writes that "the Secret Service Wednesday said it was investigating a suspicious substance that was found on a letter sent to President Barack Obama, as Capitol Police responded to reports of suspicious packages in the Hart and Russell Senate office buildings. A bomb squad is on the scene on Capitol Hill, but the buildings have not been evacuated. Certain areas of the buildings have been closed."
Update at 11:55 a.m. ET. Bomb Squad At Senate Office Buildings?
Politico tweets that "bomb squad [is] on the scene at Hart and Russell Senate office buildings" in Washington, D.C.
The Associated Press says "U.S. Capitol police are investigating the discovery of at least two suspicious envelopes in Senate office buildings across the street from the Capitol."
It was not clear whether there was a connection between the letter and the two envelopes.
Update at 11:45 a.m. ET. Similar To Letter Sent To Wicker, Source Tells AP:
"A law enforcement official said the letter [sent to Obama] is very similar to one recently mailed to Mississippi Republican Sen. Roger Wicker," The Associated Press reports. "The official requested anonymity because the official was not authorized to discuss the ongoing investigation."
Note: We will focus on reports from NPR, other news outlets with expertise, and statements from authorities who are in a position to know what's going on. And if some of that information turns out to be wrong, we'll update.
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