Federal authorities are investigating a series of suspicious letters sent to election offices and congressional offices across the United States, some of which contained an unknown substance, officials said.
The FBI and U.S. Postal Inspection Service are working to identify those responsible for the mailings, which were sent to various addresses nationwide, including state secretary of state offices and their related election offices.
Brendan Donahue, deputy chief inspector at the Postal Inspection Service, said investigators are working with law enforcement partners to respond to each incident and prevent threats against election officials.
“We are committed to protecting our nation’s election officials from threatening and dangerous mail,” Donahue said, adding that authorities would use all available resources to investigate the cases.
According to an internal notice sent to Senate staff and obtained by Fox News, congressional offices were also among those that received suspicious letters. The notice came as federal authorities worked to intercept additional mailings.
The offices of Democratic Sens. Chris Murphy of Connecticut and Alex Padilla of California were among those notified about suspicious mail. Murphy’s spokesperson said the office received a letter containing a suspicious substance but that the senator and staff were not in immediate danger. Padilla’s office said its letter was intercepted by the U.S. Postal Service.
The House sergeant at arms also notified congressional offices about the investigation, saying no House members were known to have been targeted.
Authorities have intercepted some of the letters and are working to identify the people responsible. Donahue declined to disclose how many incidents were under investigation or whether investigators had established connections between them.
The investigation comes less than three weeks before the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
Separate incidents involving suspicious packages were reported this week by election officials in Louisiana and Oklahoma. Louisiana Secretary of State Nancy Landry said an employee found white powder in a package at the office’s Elections Division. Testing found no evidence of harmful substances, and no injuries were reported.
Oklahoma’s State Election Board also reported receiving an envelope containing suspicious white powder. The office was evacuated, and authorities began investigating. No injuries were reported.