What does Trump's hate tone to do with suspected bombs?

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01:13

The atmosphere of hatred that has been driving US politics for the past few years surfaced on Wednesday in a series of suspected bombs sent to prominent US Democrats and CNN's New York bureau.

The FBI said these explosives appeared to be pipe bombs. None of the devices went off and no injuries were reported.

New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has called it a coordinated plot to "terrorize" ahead of the upcoming midterm election.

While Republicans, including President Donald Trump, have condemned the failed attacks, a number of top Democrats were quick to label the threats a symptom of a coarsening brand of political rhetoric promoted by President Donald Trump.

What do we know so far?

Pipe bombs were sent to US President Barack Obama and former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and CNN, all hate figures for backers of Trump.

The spree of bomb alerts was started earlier this week, with a device found at the New York home of billionaire liberal donor George Soros on Monday.

A package addressed to Clinton at the home she shares with her husband, former president Bill Clinton, in Manhattan on Tuesday, and a second package addressed to Obama's Washington home on Wednesday.

The CNN logo is displayed in a window of the Time Warner Center in New York, US, October 24, 2018. /VCG Photo

Another packaging including a pipe bomb and an envelope containing white powder was sent to CNN's New York office on the same day.

FBI said an individual or individuals appeared to send out the multiple similar packages.

Other targets included prominent African American Democrats – Obama's former attorney general Eric Holder and Maxine Waters, a lawmaker from California – both them outspoken Trump critics.

New York Police Department (NYPD) officers stand outside of the Time Warner Center in New York, US, October 24, 2018. /VCG Photo

All the packages reportedly included the return address of Debbie Wasserman Schultz, former chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee.

There has been no claim of responsibility and no one was yet thought to have been arrested. Law enforcement agencies are investigating the incidents.

Political hatred is blamed

Speaking to the public after the CNN bomb alarm, de Blasio said it is "an effort to terrorize". Without mentioning Trump by name, he appealed to all elected officials, from the top down, to refrain from encouraging violence.

"Unfortunately this atmosphere of hatred is contributing to the choices people are making," said de Blasio. "The way to stop that is turn back the other way, to bring down the temperature, to end any messages of violence against people we disagree with and this has to start at the top."

Democrats, on the other hand, utterly blamed Trump for condoning violence and dividing the US.

Speaking at the White House, Trump appealed for unity, saying acts of political violence have "no place" in the country. "We're extremely angry, upset, unhappy about what we witnessed this morning and we will get to the bottom of it," he said.

Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer and House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi dismissed Trump's words, saying in a statement that they "ring hollow."

"Time and time again, the President has condoned physical violence and divided Americans with his words and his actions," the statement said.

"For years now, Donald Trump has been calling for the jailing of his critics and has lauded violence against journalists," US Representative Bill Pascrell, a New Jersey Democrat said. "The danger of right-wing extremism cannot be ignored and more attention must be paid to it before even worse violence occurs," he added.

When did the hatred start?

Trump sometimes invokes images of violence in remarks to his supporters. Last week, he reiterated his support for a Montana congressman who body-slammed a reporter in 2017. In August, Trump warned that if Democrats gained control of Congress, they would "quickly and violently" overturn his agenda.

Last year, he said there were bad people on both sides of a clash in Charlottesville, Virginia, between white supremacist groups and counter-protesters. Some of the people who received suspicious packages, including Obama, Clinton and former Attorney General Eric Holder, have been targeted by online groups such as QAnon that push vast conspiracy theories saying Democrats are behind international crime rings.

During his presidential campaign, Trump regularly urged his supporters to chant "Lock her up," a threat to jail Clinton, and also supported conspiracy theories that Soros plays an underhanded role in influencing US politics.

CNN is well known for its robust coverage of the Trump administration and Trump criticized it as "fake news."

When addressing supporters at a campaign rally in Mosinee, Wisconsin, on Wednesday, Trump said the media should stop its "endless hostility" and "false attacks".

"No one should carelessly compare political opponents to historical villains, which is done, it's done all the time," he said. "The media also has a responsibility to set a civil tone and stop the endless hostility and constant negative and often times false attacks and stories," he added.

"Have to do it. They've got to stop."

(With inputs from Reuters and AFP)