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Sunday, October 28, 2018

Monday afternoon, Cesar Sayoc, 56, appeared in a Florida district court under Judge Edwin G. Torres for a reading of the charges against him. Although yet to be formally indicted, he is accused of sending a series of 14 pipe bombs to various critics of United States president Donald Trump. According to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Sayoc is facing five charges: illegal transportation of an explosive, illegally sending an explosive through the United States mail, threatening former presidents and others, and threatening interstate communications and assaulting federal officers. He could serve about 50 years in prison if convicted. Sayoc’s lawyers say he intends to plead not guilty.

“He remains innocent. And nobody has been able — in a court of law — to say that those were bombs that he sent,” Sayoc’s attorney, Daniel Aaronson, told the press. “Therefore there is no reason why he should speak or possibly have any information to impart.” Sayoc’s lawyers also pointed out that a 15th pipe bomb was found in Atlanta, Georgia three days after Sayoc’s arrest, though authorities .

Federal prosecutors told the press they have a fingerprint and DNA evidence linking Sayoc to the package bombs, but Sayoc’s attorneys claimed the matches are inconclusive.

Speaking from the White House, President Trump praised the investigators for their “incredible job” and called the attempted pipe bombings “despicable.” The investigation is being conducted by a Joint Terrorism Task Force led by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation, and most of the bombs are being examined at their laboratory in Quantico, Virginia. The New York Police Department and U.S. Postal Inspection Service are also involved.

On Friday, authorities arrested Sayoc in the town of Plantation. They also found soldering equipment and stamps similar to those used on the packages in which the bombs were mailed. Sayoc, who is originally from the borough of Brooklyn in New York City has previous arrests for theft, domestic violence, and other violations. He was convicted in 2002 of threatening to bomb the Florida Power and Light utility company. He was sentenced to one year of probation. A lawyer who has represented Sayoc in the past, Daniel Lurvey, described Sayoc as a normal person and said his anger about politics was new. “I think it’s a recent phenomenon that’s happening to a lot of people who have feelings under the surface that are brought out by this divisive political climate,” he said. Authorities also confiscated a van covered in pro-Republican Party, pro-Trump political stickers. One of Sayoc’s neighbors, Dan Ochsenschlagen, said there had recently been trouble between Sayoc’s mother and the owner of the apartment complex in which she and Sayoc both lived.

A total of 14 pipe bombs were sent to politicians and other public figures since last Monday. The four bombs intercepted on Friday were addressed to Senator Cory Booker of New Jersey, former director of national intelligence James Clapper, Democratic senator for California Kamala Harris, and Democratic donor Tom Sayer. Thursday, authorities intercepted two addressed former Vice President Joe Biden and one to actor Robert De Niro. Other bombs were sent to former president Barack Obama, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton who ran against Donald Trump in the 2016 U.S. presidential election, former director of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency John Brennan, former attorney general Eric Holder, current California congresswoman Maxine Waters and senator Kamala Harris, who are both Democrats, and George Soros, who frequently supports causes on the liberal side of American politics financially. Some of the bombs were intercepted at U.S. Post Office locations and others reached the targets’ homes or offices. The package addressed to Holder was instead delivered to the offices of Democratic Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz because she was listed as the return address. The package addressed to Brennan was found in the mailroom of the news network CNN , and the building had to be evacuated. As of Friday Sayoc is charged with sending all these packages except the one addressed to Sayer, but investigators say it may be added to the indictment. According to authorities, the pipe bombs had similar mailing labels and arrangement of their first-class postage stamps and Florida return addresses.

None of the bombs exploded and no one was harmed. Some investigators who spoke on the condition of anonymity speculated to the press that the bombs may never have been intended to explode. The endcaps were merely taped in place rather than secured, and some of the pipes had LED countdown clocks affixed to their exteriors, which, although common in the movies and on television, almost never figure in real-world bombings.

“As far as a hoax device, we’re not treating it that way,” New York Police Commissioner James O’Neill told the press before Sayoc was apprehended.

As late as earlier on the day of Sayoc’s arrest, such figures as John Cardillo, radio host Bill Mitchell, and Rush Limbaugh have speculated that this might be a false flag operation, that a liberal might be sending these packages, as Limbaugh put it, to “make it look like the Republicans are a bunch of insane lunatics” and drum up support before the upcoming 2018 midterm elections. Mitchell accused Soros specifically, saying the mailings had “Soros astro-turfing written all over it” on Twitter. Astro-turfing, named after artificial grass, is the phenomenon by which an entity in authority artificially, sometimes clandestinely, impersonates action by the public, simulating a bottom-up or “grassroots” movement.

Sayoc is a registered Republican and has an online presence that includes anti-Muslim comments and conspiracy theories targeting Trump’s former opponent Hillary Clinton. In August, Sayoc had named CNN in a threatening Tweet.

Multiple news agencies have pointed out what all the targets have in common: public criticism of President Donald Trump. Trump initially denounced the violence of sending bombs but followed on Twitter with “A very big part of the Anger we see today in our society is caused by the purposely false and inaccurate reporting of the Mainstream Media that I refer to as Fake News[.] It has gotten so bad and hateful that it is beyond description. Mainstream Media must clean up its act, FAST!”

“Stop blaming others. Look in the mirror,” tweeted former CIA director Brennan. “Your inflammatory rhetoric, insults, lies, & encouragement of physical violence are disgraceful. Clean up your act….try to act Presidential.”

Although today’s proceedings were not a bail hearing, prosecutors have asked that Sayoc be held without bail, claiming concerns that he would attempt to escape before trial. Sayoc is scheduled to appear in court again on Friday, this time to determine whether he should be extradited to New York State. A Federal public defender for that district has already been appointed to represent him. Sayoc is currently being held in the federal detention center in Miami.

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