It was surprising enough on Wednesday when the nation first learned of a suspicious package, which appeared to have working explosives, was sent to Hillary Clinton. Then we learned about a similar package sent to Barack Obama. As the hours progressed, we learned of several other Democrats and veterans of the Obama administration who were also apparently targeted.
Two days later, the list keeps growing.
Two more packages containing explosive devices were discovered Friday, one in Florida addressed to Sen. Cory Booker and another in New York addressed to former U.S. Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, officials said.
The package mailed to Clapper was addressed to CNN’s New York offices, according to a picture tweeted by CBS New York, and discovered at a postal facility in Midtown Manhattan.
The New York Police Department said Friday morning that they were responding to 52nd St. and 8th Ave., about six blocks away from the Time Warner Center, where CNN is located. The explosive device is the second to be addressed to news network this week.
Based on the publicly available information, I believe this brings the new total of recipients to 10: Clinton, Obama, Booker, Clapper, George Soros, former CIA Director John Brennan, former Attorney General Eric Holder, Rep. Maxine Waters (D-Calif.), Robert De Niro, and former Vice President Joe Biden.
Yes, as many political observers have noticed, each of these 10 people have either been critical of, or been criticized by, Donald Trump.
But let me reiterate a point we discussed on Wednesday: jumping to conclusions is rarely a good idea. Maybe responsibility for the pipe bombs rests with a Trump supporter, maybe not. We don’t know for sure. There’s an investigation underway and recent history suggests premature speculation, ahead of the facts, is sometimes wrong.
NBC News’ Benjy Sarlin noted the other day, “[W]eird things happen all the time. A run of bomb threats to Jewish centers after the election was a disturbed teenager in Israel. Ricin letters to the [White House] and [New York city] mayor in 2014 was someone trying to frame their husband.”
Investigators will do their work, at which time we’ll hopefully learn more. Until then, I recommend caution.
Steve Benen is a producer for "The Rachel Maddow Show," the editor of MaddowBlog and an MS NOW political contributor. He's also the bestselling author of "Ministry of Truth: Democracy, Reality, and the Republicans' War on the Recent Past."