President Trump on Friday announced that federal authorities arrested a suspect in connection with a string of attempted bombings and pledged to bring those responsible to “swift and certain justice.”
{mosads}Speaking at the White House, Trump described the bomb scare as a series of “terrorizing acts” that are “despicable and have no place in our country.”
But he also expressed a desire to move on from the story, which has generated negative headlines about his heated political rhetoric.
“We must never allow political violence to take root in America — cannot let it happen — and I am committed to doing everything in my power to stop it and to stop it now,” Trump said.
The president stepped on his own message just minutes after repeating his calls for unity by attacking Democrats, “fake polls” and other opponents.
During a riff on trade, Trump went after “globalists” he accused of hurting the U.S. economy. Several audience members shouted out “George Soros” and “lock ’em up.”
Trump chuckled, pointed to the crowd and repeated the phrase “lock ’em up.”
The first known suspicious package in the case was addressed to Soros, a billionaire investor who funds liberal causes and has long been a target on the right.
Trump also said that the bomb scare had overshadowed his proposal to reduce prescription drug prices.
“Now, our law enforcement has done such a good job that maybe it can start to disappear rapidly because we don’t like those stories,” he said.
The comments are a sign that Trump views the incident as a political obstacle to move past rather than a reckoning for the nation’s toxic political atmosphere he has helped stoke.
In a tweet earlier Friday, the president lamented that the bomb scare halted Republican “momentum” heading into next month’s midterm elections. He put the word bomb in scare quotes, an apparent nod to conspiracy theories about the suspicious packages voiced by some of his supporters.
Trump spoke hours after news broke that authorities apprehended a man in connection with the mail-bomb scare, which expanded on Friday to 12 suspicious packages sent to prominent Democrats, celebrities and news organizations that have criticized the president.
Trump praised law enforcement for quickly arresting the suspect in the case, which includes packages sent to several states across the country.
“It’s a needle in a haystack. How do you do this so quickly? They’ve done an incredible, incredible job and I want to congratulate them,” he said.
Multiple news reports named the suspect as Cesar Sayoc Jr., of Aventura, Fla. The 56-year-old is reportedly a registered Republican with a long criminal record that includes theft, fraud and drug charges as well as accusations of threatening people with explosives.
Law enforcement officers were shown on television throwing a blue tarp over a white van with windows covered in political stickers and hauling it away on the back of a flatbed truck.
Photos believed to depict the van showed it had a sticker with a target over the face of Hillary Clinton, Trump’s Democratic opponent in the 2016 election. The photo was taken before Friday morning, when law enforcement located and seized the van.
One of the packages was addressed to Clinton at her home in New York. Former President Obama, former Vice President Biden, former Attorney General Eric Holder, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) and actor Robert DeNiro were among those who were the intended recipients of the explosives.
CNN also received packages addressed to former CIA Director John Brennan and former Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, both of whom have been critical of Trump.