AUSTIN, Texas _ The Florida man who allegedly sent pipe bombs to President Donald Trump's critics also had Texas Rep. Beto O'Rourke and at least one other Texas lawmaker in his sights.
O'Rourke received several threatening Facebook messages from pipe bomb suspect Cesar Sayoc earlier this year, campaign spokesman Chris Evans confirmed to The Dallas Morning News. Then, on Oct. 25, Evans said the FBI began sending dogs and agents to go through mail at O'Rourke's campaign office in El Paso.
It's unclear whether O'Rourke was included on a list the bomb suspect kept of about 100 people he considered potential future targets. On Wednesday, Evans said, "No one said 'you are on a list' but there was immediately a presence including agents and dogs who were at the office even as recent as today."
Sayoc also researched mailing addresses for Rep. Poncho Nevarez, a Democrat who represents parts of Texas along the U.S.-Mexico border, he said. This week, a suspicious package was sent to Nevarez's Capitol office, spurring a brief evacuation.
The Morning News reached out to the O'Rourke campaign and Nevarez after learning that Sayoc might have targeted them. The local FBI field office who spoke to Nevarez referred the newspaper to the national office, which did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Sayoc was arrested last week after fingerprint and DNA evidence tied him to pipe bombs sent through the mail to several prominent Democrats and CNN's New York offices. He's been charged with five federal crimes, including illegal mailing of explosives and threats against a former president.
Evans said Sayoc's threats against O'Rourke, who is running for Senate against Republican incumbent Ted Cruz, dated back several months.
"We received a threat via Facebook from that individual in April, a threat toward Beto, and we immediately reported it to the (U.S.) Capitol Police," Evans said. "Then we turned over the message and the information and the threat to the FBI in July."
The messages, which were provided to the Morning News, included photographs of O'Rourke with his wife and children and a warning to "hug your loved ones everytime (sic) you leave home. See you soon."
Nevarez said he was also recently contacted about the bomb suspect.
On Tuesday, several offices at the Texas Capitol in Austin were briefly evacuated after Nevarez received a suspicious package. That same morning, Nevarez said he got a call from FBI agents, who told him his addresses were included on Sayoc's "portfolio of searches."
Like O'Rourke, Nevarez told the Morning News the FBI never explicitly said whether he was on Sayoc's list of potential future targets, but that the word "list" did come up in his conversations with the agents. The package he received was screened and deemed not a threat to public safety, and Nevarez said he doesn't know who sent it or whether it could have come from the pipe bomb suspect.
Nevarez, who lives in Eagle Pass, said he doesn't know why he would be a potential target and said he's considering what additional security steps he should take.
"Here I am, living my life, and there's this guy taking some steps to finalize me," Nevarez told the Morning News. "It's demoralizing thinking somebody would want to do that. ... There's something about this that really shakes you."
