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Politico
Politico
National
Erica Orden and Julia Marsh

Suspicious powder sent to Manhattan office of DA probing Trump is 'nonhazardous'

Neither the Manhattan district attorney's office nor the courthouse was evacuated, a spokesperson for District Attorney Alvin Bragg said. | Victor J. Blue for POLITICO
UPDATED: 25 MAR 2023 08:32 AM EST

NEW YORK — An envelope containing suspicious powder sent Friday to the office of the Manhattan district attorney investigating Donald Trump was a nonhazardous substance, law enforcement officials said.

“The D.A. has informed the office that it was immediately contained and that the NYPD Emergency Service Unit and the NYC Department of Environmental Protection determined there was no dangerous substance,” a spokesperson for Manhattan DA Alvin Bragg said in a statement.

NYPD officers responded around noon Friday to the lower Manhattan building that houses Bragg’s office after a 911 call, according to a police spokesperson.

The white powder was in a USPS envelope. It was been transported to a city lab for further analysis, the NYPD spokesperson said.

Neither the office nor the courthouse was evacuated, the spokesperson said.

The scare comes after Trump took to Truth Social to predict “potential death & destruction” if a grand jury votes to indict the former president for his alleged role in a 2016 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.

The grand jury was not sitting Friday since it typically only hears evidence on Mondays, Wednesdays and Thursdays. The panel took a two-day break this week after a flurry of witnesses, leading some to speculate the case was in trouble. But legal experts told POLITICO there were more likelyroutine reasons for the pause.

Last week, Bragg told office employees in an email that “we do not tolerate attempts to intimidate our office or threaten the rule of law in New York.”

“Our law enforcement partners will ensure that any specific or credible threats against the office will be fully investigated and that the proper safeguards are in place so all 1,600 of us have a secure work environment,” Bragg wrote.

That message followed an earlier warning by Trump that his supporters should “Protest, take our nation back!” if he was arrested in connection with Bragg’s probe.

A spokesperson for Mayor Eric Adams said, “While we cannot comment on the specifics of any ongoing investigation, no public official should ever be subject to threats for doing his or her job. I’m confident that every elected official in the City, including Manhattan DA Bragg, will continue to do their work undeterred, and anyone found to be engaging in illegal conduct will be brought to justice.”

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