CNN’s President Jeff Zucker blamed President Trump and White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders for the series of bomb threats that surfaced on Wednesday.
“There is a total and complete lack of understanding at the White House about the seriousness of their continued attacks on the media,” Mr. Zucker said in a statement.
“The President, and especially the White House Press Secretary, should understand their words matter. Thus far, they have shown no comprehension of that,” he continued.
Both the president and Mrs. Sanders condemned the attempted attacks.
“We’re extremely angry, upset, unhappy about what we witnessed this morning,” Mr. Trump said Wednesday afternoon. “We will get to the bottom of it.”
CNN’s headquarters in the Time Warner building was evacuated in the middle of live coverage Wednesday morning when NYPD discovered what appeared to be a “live device.” An envelope with white powder was also found at the scene.
CNN employees were recently let back into the building, several hours after being evacuated.
The device sent to CNN was one of several suspicious packages sent to several prominent Democrats, including Florida Democratic Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Clintons, the Obamas and California Democratic Rep. Maxine Waters.
New York authorities condemned the bomb threats as domestic terrorism.
“This is clearly an act of terror, attempting to undermine our free press and leaders of this country through acts of violence,” Mayor Bill de Blasio said at a press conference, “I want to make very clear that the people of New York City will not be intimidated.”
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.