By MICHAEL R. SISAK (Associated Press)
NEW YORK (AP) — A powdery substance was discovered Friday with a threatening letter in a mailroom on the workplaces of Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, the most recent safety scare because the prosecutor weighs a possible historic indictment of former President Donald Trump, authorities stated.
New York City police and environmental safety officers remoted and eliminated the suspicious letter, and testing “determined there was no dangerous substance,” Bragg spokesperson Danielle Filson stated. The substance was despatched to a metropolis lab for additional examination, police stated.
“Alvin, I am going to kill you,” the letter stated, in response to an individual conversant in the matter. The individual was not licensed to talk publicly about an ongoing investigation and did so on situation of anonymity.
The discovery, in the identical constructing the place a grand jury is predicted to renew work Monday, got here amid more and more hostile rhetoric from Trump, a Republican who’s holding the primary rally of his 2024 presidential marketing campaign Saturday in Waco, Texas.
Hours earlier, Trump posted on his Truth Social platform that any prison cost towards him may result in “potential death & destruction.”
Trump additionally posted a photograph of himself holding a baseball bat subsequent to an image of Bragg, a Democrat. On Thursday, Trump referred to Bragg, Manhattan’s first Black district lawyer, as an “animal.”
The constructing the place the letter was discovered wasn’t evacuated and enterprise largely went on as ordinary, with prosecutors coming and going and bicycle supply staff dropping off lunch orders. The constructing homes varied authorities workplaces, together with town’s marriage bureau.
Security has been heavy across the court docket buildings and district lawyer’s workplace in current days because the grand jury investigates hush cash paid on Trump’s behalf throughout his 2016 marketing campaign.
Additional law enforcement officials are on patrol, steel barricades have been put in alongside the sidewalks and bomb sniffing canine have been making common sweeps of the buildings, which have additionally confronted unfounded bomb threats in current days.
A New York State court docket spokesman stated, “Due to the nature of increased interest in proceedings in New York City Courthouses, we have increased security, both inside and on the perimeter, and officers have been reminded to remain vigilant and maintain situational awareness.”
In a memo to employees Friday, Bragg stated the workplace has additionally been receiving offensive and threatening cellphone calls and emails. He thanked his employees of almost 1,600 folks for persevering within the face of “extra press consideration and safety round our workplace“ and stated their security stays the highest precedence.
“We will continue to apply the law evenly and fairly, which is what each of you does every single day,” Bragg wrote.
Fabien Levy, a spokesperson for New York Mayor Eric Adams, launched a press release Friday evening saying: “While we cannot comment on the specifics of any ongoing investigation, no public official should ever be subject to threats for doing his or her job. I’m confident that every elected official in the City, including Manhattan DA Bragg, will continue to do their work undeterred, and anyone found to be engaging in illegal conduct will be brought to justice.”
The Rev. Al Sharpton stated he’ll maintain a prayer vigil for Bragg’s security Saturday in Harlem. He and different Black leaders have condemned Trump’s rhetoric about Bragg and billionaire George Soros, who backed a gaggle that supported Bragg’s marketing campaign, as “not a dog-whistle but a bullhorn of incendiary and anti-semitic bile.”
The grand jury, convened by Bragg in January, has been investigating Trump’s involvement in a $130,000 fee made in 2016 to porn actor Stormy Daniels to maintain her from going public a few sexual encounter she stated she had with Trump years earlier. Trump has denied the declare.
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Associated Press author Bobby Caina Calvan contributed to this report.
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Source: www.bostonherald.com”