Washington – Federal investigators said Thursday they are investigating “suspicious” letters sent to state election officials and congressional offices, some of which contained unknown substances. At least five Senate Democratic offices received the letters, most of which were intercepted before being delivered. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s office was one of the victims, CBS News has learned. The FBI and the U.S. Postal Inspection Service are investigating the “suspicious shipments,” according to Brendan Donahue, USPIS deputy chief inspector. Donahue told reporters earlier in the day that some letters contained an unknown substance and were sent to “various addresses throughout the country,” including “secretary of state offices and related election offices.” “We are committed to protecting our nation’s election officials from threatening and dangerous mail. Any threat or attack on an election official is unacceptable,” Donahue said. “Our partners, including the FBI and us at the Postal Inspection Service, will use all of our resources for these investigations.” The Senate sergeant-at-arms also issued a notice to congressional staff informing them of the investigation. The message, which was obtained by CBS News, said that congressional offices were among those that received the suspicious letters. A spokesperson for Delaware Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester told CBS News that the senator’s office in Dover, Delaware, received a suspicious letter containing a white powder. The letter was not opened at the office, the spokesperson said. A letter addressed to New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand was found in the senator’s office in New York City and postal inspectors were on the scene to investigate, an aide to the senator said. A spokesman for Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut also said his office “was sent a letter with a suspicious substance.” “Our office was quickly informed of the letter by the FBI, SAA and Capitol Police, and we continue to work closely with them and federal authorities,” said Josh Sorbe, a spokesman for Murphy. “Due to those efforts and various safety protocols, the senator and staff were not in immediate danger.” A letter was also sent to Sen. Alex Padilla’s office, according to a spokesperson for the California Democrat. “We received notification from the FBI that one of our offices was sent a letter containing a suspicious substance, but it was intercepted by the USPS,” the spokesperson said. The House sergeant-at-arms sent a notice to House offices indicating that no House member was known to have been attacked. Federal officials are working to identify those responsible and have intercepted some of the letters, Donahue said. Donahue declined to provide an exact number of incidents or discuss possible connections, citing the ongoing investigation. He added that investigators will put all their resources into investigating the cases. The development occurs less than three weeks before the midterm elections. Federal investigators also investigated a series of suspicious letters ahead of the 2024 election. In addition to congressional offices, top election officials in at least three states have reported that their offices received packages containing a white powder in recent days. The Delaware Department of Elections said in a post on X that it “received and opened a letter that was found to contain a white powdery substance” on Thursday. “Staff members followed security and USPS instructions on handling suspicious mail,” the post said. Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry said Tuesday that an employee in her office’s Elections Division opened a package and found a white powder. “Authorities responded to the incident today and conducted tests that found no evidence of harmful substances,” he wrote on Facebook, adding that no one was injured. The Oklahoma State Board of Elections said it received an envelope containing “suspicious” white powder Tuesday morning and its office was evacuated. Paul Ziriax, secretary of the election board, said no one was injured as a result of the incident and that authorities are investigating. Jaala Brown and Alan He contributed to this report. More from CBS News Go deeper with The Free Press
