Feds Arrest Woman Who Tried To Kill Trump With Ricin Laced Letter
A female suspect who tried to kill President Trump by sending him a letter allegedly laced with the deadly poison ricin has been arrested.
The woman has not been identified but she was arrested trying to enter the USA from Canada. Custom and Border Patrol made the arrest.
She was carrying a gun at the time of her arrest according to the reports. The package never made it to the White House but it was not stopped until the last screening check which means that it may have gotten through earlier screenings.
From CNN:
A person familiar with the investigation told CNN’s Josh Campbell the letter was mailed from St. Hubert, Quebec, and contained a granular substance with similar physical characteristics to ground castor beans.
Two tests had been done to confirm the presence of ricin. All mail for the White House is sorted and screened at an offsite facility before reaching the White House.
A spokesperson for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, which confirmed Saturday that it was working with the FBI to investigate the matter, told CNN Sunday that “the RCMP is still not in a position to issue a statement, or to confirm/deny any reports on arrests.”
A spokeswoman from the FBI Washington Field Office confirmed later Sunday that an arrest was made and that the investigation remains ongoing.
In a statement provided to CNN on Saturday, the FBI’s Washington field office said that “the FBI and our U.S. Secret Service and U.S. Postal Inspection Service partners are investigating a suspicious letter received at a U.S. government mail facility. At this time, there is no known threat to public safety.”
Authorities are investigating additional similar packages mailed to addresses in Texas that may be connected to the same sender in Canada, CNN previously reported, according to a US law enforcement official.
“We are aware of the concerning reports of packages containing ricin directed toward US federal government sites,” Mary-Liz Power, chief spokeswoman for Canada’s Minister of Public Safety Bill Blair, told CNN on Saturday.
“Canadian law enforcement is working closely with their US counterparts. As this is an active investigation we cannot comment further,” she had said.
Ricin is a highly toxic compound extracted from castor beans that has been used in terror plots. It can be used in powder, pellet, mist or acid form. If ingested, it causes nausea, vomiting and internal bleeding of the stomach and intestines, followed by failure of the liver, spleen and kidneys, and death by collapse of the circulatory system.