A sequence of threatening letters containing a mysterious white powder is elevating considerations that Republican lawmakers in Kansas and around the country who gained them are being centered via any individual cryptically calling themselves “your secret despirer,” in accordance to government and recipients of the letters.
Since Friday, about 100 letters had been gained via Kansas GOP lawmakers and Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach, who may be a Republican, officers mentioned.
The record of meant recipients of white powder letters is rising and increasing past Kansas, federal regulation enforcement resources advised ABC News.
Similar letters containing a cryptic be aware and a “suspicious powdery substance” had been addressed to former President Donald Trump, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and different high-profile people, even though the U.S. Postal Inspection Service intercepted them sooner than they had been delivered, the resources mentioned.
Postal inspectors have ownership of the letters and feature deemed them risk free, the resources mentioned.
At this level, the FBI and the U.S. Secret Service are tracking the placement.
“There is some message. The message is somewhat unclear, but it was intended to be threatening,” Republican state Sen. Molly Baumgardner, the recipient of probably the most letters, advised ABC Kansas City, Missouri, affiliate KMBC.
The FBI and the Kansas Bureau of Investigation are probing the letters, however have now not made up our minds who’s sending them or the purpose in the back of the dispatches.
“Kansas legislators that are Republican are being targeted,” Baumgardner mentioned.
Baumgardner mentioned the letter mailed to her contained a white powder and a typed be aware studying partially, “It is important not to choke on your ambition.” The sender described the letter as a “gift” and referred to themselves as “your secret despirer,” a phrase that stems from despise.
In this symbol posted to her Facebook account, Kansas state Rep. Tory Marie Blew displays a suspicious letter that used to be sent to her.
Rep. Tory Marie Blew/Facebook
“Everybody has to be concerned,” Baumgardner advised KMBC. “Everyone has to take this and any subsequent threats like this very seriously.”
Investigators have amassed the letters and a small pattern of the white powder contained in them has been sent to a lab for trying out.
“Preliminary tests have returned from this lab indicating the substance is presumptively negative for common biological agents of concern,” the Kansas Bureau of Investigation mentioned in a remark over the weekend.
The elements examined have now not been deemed explosive, a supply conversant in the topic advised ABC News.
“Currently, no injuries have been reported, but we ask everyone to remain vigilant in handling mail,” the Kansas Bureau of Investigation mentioned in its remark.
Kansas state Rep. Steve Owens, a Republican, advised ABC News that he gained a letter identical to the only sent to Baumgardner. He mentioned that when he opened the letter, mailed in an ordinary white envelope, he spotted the white powder inside of a folded piece of paper.
Owens described the enjoy of receiving the letter as “terrifying.”
He mentioned the sender seems to be thorough and calculating, the usage of the go back cope with of a neighborhood church to apparently check out to coax the receiver into opening it.
“This is not okay,” Kansas state Rep. Tory Blew, a Republican, wrote in a social media post after she additionally gained a letter with white powder inside of. “I’m very thankful for our first responders — words can’t describe my gratitude after this event.”
The letters got here after Manhattan, New York, District Attorney Alvin Bragg, a Democrat, used to be sent a minimum of two letters containing white powder in April after a grand jury indicted former President Donald Trump on 34-counts of falsifying trade data comparable to a hush cash fee made within the ultimate days of the 2016 presidential race to bury destructive exposure about alleged extramarital affairs. The New York Police Department made up our minds that the powder within the envelopes sent to Bragg used to be nonhazardous.
Investigators have discovered no proof linking the Kansas letters to the Trump case in New York. Trump pleaded now not accountable to the fees.
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