Suspect arrested after explosive devices sent to Trump critics and CNN

Mail bomb suspect Cesar Sayoc was arrested today in south Florida and charged with making threats against former presidents and other explosive-related crimes.

Our live coverage of the arrest has ended, but here’s everything you need to know:

Cesar Altieri Sayoc, the mail bomb suspect arrested Friday, has struggled for years with “a lack of comprehension of reality,” his former lawyer told CNN.

Attorney Ronald S. Lowy said Sayoc’s mother and sisters have urged him to seek medical treatment, but he has refused.

Sayoc has been estranged from the family for the past several years, Lowy said, and his mother “can’t understand his (Sayoc’s) behavior or views.”

Though FBI searched the mother’s home on Friday, Lowy predicted it would be “a waste of time” since Sayoc hadn’t visited the residence for at least three years.

Lowy said the closest he came to getting treatment for Sayoc was in 2004 during a drug case that involved steroids. He said he negotiated with prosecutors to have it charged as a narcotics case so his client could get court mandated-treatment.

It was not immediately clear whether he actually received such treatment.

Lowy, who said he now represents Sayoc’s mother and two sisters, said they are struggling to come to terms with the allegations.

“It’s a very emotional time for them,” he said.

A van in Plantation, Florida, towed away from the scene of bomb suspect Cesar Sayoc’s arrest had images of President Trump and Vice President Mike Pence as well as a “CNN Sucks” sticker, video footage shows.

Sayoc had been kicked out by his parents and was living in the white van widely seen in pictures Friday, according to a law enforcement official.

It caught the eye of Michael Hebert, who filmed footage of what appeared to be the van outside an LA Fitness gym in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, on July 18. 

Hebert, who goes to the gym, said he’d seen Sayoc there a number of times and had seen the van parked outside. 

It stood out to him because of the “political tone,” Hebert told CNN, “which is wild regardless of your (political) views.” 

“It’s just too much political stuff,” Hebert said, adding it seemed “a little bit extreme.”

Here’s the footage:

Vice President Mike Pence, speaking at a campaign event in Roswell, New Mexico, addressed the suspicious packages and the suspect’s arrest on Friday afternoon.

“We will never allow our political differences to justify threats or acts of violence — not now, not ever,” he said, adding that President Trump had “made clear these acts as despicable and they have no place in our society.”

Pence also praised the “amazing job” of investigators and law enforcement, and called for national unity.

Former Attorney General Eric Holder thanked law enforcement and postal workers for their response to the suspicious packages in a tweet moments ago.

“The work you did is reflective of the excellence and dedication that you always bring to the job — and that the American people always appreciate,” he said.

One of the suspicious packages found Wednesday was addressed to Holder, but it was returned to Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s office in Florida, since her address was listed as the return address.

Here’s his tweet:

Bomb suspect Cesar Sayoc will appear Monday at 2 p.m. ET in a Miami federal court, according to the Southern District of New York. 

Sayoc was charged Friday with five federal crimes and faces up to 48 years in prison in connection to improvised explosive devices sent to prominent Democratic politicians, donors and CNN offices in New York.

President Trump acknowledged the suspect in a string of bomb mailings had pictures of the President on his van, but did not disavow the support of the suspect.

“I did not see my face on the van,” Trump told reporters on the South Lawn of the White House. 

At the arrest scene Friday morning, a sticker-covered van was towed away. It featured images of Trump and Vice President Mike Pence.

“I heard he was a person who prefers me over others, but I did not see that,” Trump said.

The President then referenced a shooting last year at Republicans’ congressional baseball practice, carried out by a supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders.

“If you look at what happened to Steve Scalise, that was from a supporter of another party,” Trump said.

Asked by CNN if he disavowed the support of the suspect, he did not answer.

Watch more:

A guard at a federal detention facility in downtown Miami told CNN Cesar Sayoc has arrived there.

This photo shows Sayoc as he was escorted out of FBI headquarters in Miramar, Florida, this afternoon.

The suspicious package found this morning at a Sacramento post office was a legitimate device, said Shaun Hampton, a spokesperson for the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Department. 

FBI field agent Sean Reagan said the package was addressed to Sen. Kamala Harris and is related to the other devices.

The outside packaging looked similar to the other devices, Reagan said. It has since been rendered safe. 

Authorities continue to investigate another suspicious package in Sacramento, California, addressed to Democratic Sen. Kamala Harris.

Harris’ office released this statement on Friday afternoon:

Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz said she is grateful to law enforcement for quickly arresting a suspect in connection with the suspicious packages.

The Florida Democrat said she will stay in “direct contact” with law enforcement.

A package intended for former Attorney General Eric Holder was sent to Wasserman Schultz’s Florida office.

Read the statement below:

Democratic Sen. Cory Booker took to Twitter to praise law enforcement officials for intercepting a suspicious package intended for him.

The FBI said Friday that the package addressed to Booker was discovered in Florida and is “similar in appearance to the others.”

Sources told CNN the package was addressed to the senator’s Camden, New Jersey, office. Booker confirmed the package was intended for him but declined to comment further to CNN.

A suspicious package addressed to billionaire Tom Steyer has been removed from a post office in the Burlingame, California.

It is being checked out at a facility just east of San Francisco International Airport. Police said it looked similar to the other suspicious packages that have been mailed to Trump critics and Democratic politicians this week.

The Burlingame Police released this statement:

Earlier today, Steyer condemned the mailings as a “systematic attack on our democracy.”

Steyer has donated heavily to Democrats and recently gave $2 million to Florida gubernatorial candidate Andrew Gillum.

When asked when the FBI briefed President Trump on having a suspect in custody, FBI Director Christopher Wray said, “I’m not going to get into our discussions with the President. 

“I will say that I received a very nice congratulatory call from the president shortly before heading over here, and saw his remarks that he made at the White House. I think he, like every other American, is and should be proud of the unbelievable work that was done not just by the FBI but by all of our law enforcement partners across multiple states.”

Watch it here:

Some of the mailings sent to several political figures included photographs of the targets with a red X marked across their faces, according to a criminal complaint filed against bomb suspect Cesar Sayoc.

The devices in the packages were nearly identical and consisted of a six-inch PVC pipe, a small clock, battery, wiring and energetic material, according to the complaint.

Five of the 13 packages were routed through a US Postal processing center in Opa-Locka, Florida, according to the complaint.

Read the complaint against Sayoc here.

Facebook had previously removed multiple posts from Cesar Sayoc’s account for violating its community standards, a Facebook spokesperson told CNN on Friday.

The spokesperson said that some of the removals were the result of Facebook users reporting Sayoc’s posts for violations. Other posts were identified by Facebook through its detection systems.

Facebook would not specify how many posts were removed.

The violations were not severe enough to prompt the company to remove his account entirely, the spokesperson added.

However, Facebook did remove the account after Sayoc was named as a suspect, and says it is working with law enforcement.

Here’s Facebook’s statement:

Bomb suspect Cesar Sayoc had been kicked out by his parents, so he has living in the van that we have seen in pictures today, according to a law enforcement official.

The sticker-covered white van was taken to an FBI facility in Miramar, Florida.

The FBI agents used flash bangs in making the arrest and took him into custody near the AutoZone in Plantation, the official said. 

Sayoc was initially somewhat cooperative, the official said. He told investigators that the pipe bombs wouldn’t have hurt anyone and that he didn’t want to hurt anyone. 

Sayoc has now retained a lawyer so the questioning has ceased, the official said. 

When asked why bomb suspect Cesar Sayoc was targeting Democrats, Attorney General Jeff Sessions replied, “I don’t know. Other than what you might normally expect. He may have been – he appears to be partisan but that will be determined by the facts as the case goes forward. I’m not able to comment on that.”

Partisanship and political rhetoric came up in another question, to which FBI Director Christopher Wray responded, “We’re focused not on the (political) talk but on the work… It’s too early at this stage for us to be discussing motivation in this particular case.”

When asked if “nasty political rhetoric” might inspire violence, Wray said, “We’re concerned about people committing acts of violence under any motivation.”

FBI Director Christopher Wray said there could still be more suspicious packages with possible explosive devices out there.

He urged anyone with information to contact the FBI at 1-800-CALL-FBI or tips.fbi.gov.

Speaking at the Department of Justice press conference, New York Police Department Commissioner James O’Neill praised the cooperation between the NYPD and the FBI as “a partnership that was forged in fire.”

He thanked the public and the media for their help, but warned that people should remain vigilant as the investigation continues.

“Today’s arrest means the people across our nation are safe. But there might be more packages out there and everyone still needs to take caution,” O’Neill said.