October 2018 United States mail bombing attempts

A suspect, Cesar Altieri Sayoc Jr., was arrested in Florida on October 26, held without bail, and charged with five federal crimes the following week. The FBI investigated the case as domestic terrorism. On March 21, 2019, Sayoc pleaded guilty to 65 felony counts, including using weapons of mass destruction in an attempted domestic terrorist attack. He was sentenced to a maximum of 20 years in prison on August 5, 2019, and will be eligible for parole as early as November 10, 2035.

On March 21, 2019, Sayoc pleaded guilty to 65 felony counts, including using weapons of mass destruction in an attempted domestic terrorist attack. In court, Sayoc stated: "I sent all 16 devices with the intent to threaten or intimidate. I know these actions were wrong." Sayoc said that he did not intend for the bombs to explode, but "was aware of the risk that it would explode."

He was sentenced to 20 years in prison on August 5, 2019. During sentencing, Judge Jed S. Rakoff stated that the bombs were purposely designed not to explode or cause anyone damage. Bomb experts agreed that Sayoc's packages were not configured to detonate. In sentencing Sayoc, Rakoff said he had concluded that Sayoc was capable of concocting a pipe bomb that could explode and had consciously chosen not to.

In a filing by the defense on July 22, 2019, Sayoc's attorneys said he had "lost everything in the Great Recession", had "cognitive limitations and severe learning disabilities", and was "abandoned by his father and sexually abused by a teacher at his Catholic school." They said that he suffered from "anxiety and paranoia" and that he "came to believe that prominent Democrats were actively working to hurt him". They also said he was an avid Fox News viewer (especially the shows Fox & Friends and Hannity) and on social media, he "promoted various conspiracy theories, and more generally, the idea that Trump's critics were dangerous, unpatriotic, and evil." At sentencing, Sayoc said before he mailed the bombs his idea "first was how to tone down the liberal left violence platform." He wrote that he believed prominent Democrats were encouraging violence, and said that he had been attacked personally.

As of October 22, 2019, Sayoc is serving his 20-year sentence at United States Penitentiary, Marion. In February 2022, Sayoc was transferred from Marion to FCI Butner Medium II. His earliest possible release date is November 10, 2035.

From October 22 to November 1, 2018, sixteen packages found to contain pipe bombs were mailed via the U.S. Postal Service to several Democratic Party politicians and other prominent critics of U.S. President Donald Trump. Targets included former U.S. President Barack Obama, former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Additionally, a package containing an explosive and suspicious powder was found in CNN's mail room in the Time Warner Center in New York City, addressed to former CIA Director John Brennan (misspelled as "Brenan"). CNN reported that law enforcement said the package was delivered by courier. Brennan has served as a senior national security and intelligence analyst for NBC News and MSNBC since February 2018, but has also appeared on CNN. The bomb alarm occurred during CNN Newsroom with Poppy Harlow and Jim Sciutto. Along with their colleagues Kate Bolduan and Athena Jones, reporters Harlow and Sciutto left the building, but continued to report via Skype over a cellphone line.

Ilya Somin, a libertarian-leaning law professor at George Mason University and a scholar at the Cato Institute, reported that he was the subject of death threats from Sayoc made on Facebook in April 2018. According to Somin, after he appeared on a Fox News interview criticizing those who hold anti-immigration views, Sayoc (using an alias) posted on his Facebook and threatened to kill Somin and his family and "feed the bodies to Florida alligators". At the time, Somin's Facebook friends reported the comments to Facebook, which did not respond except for automated messages. Somin also reported the incident to George Mason University police and Arlington, Virginia law enforcement.

Following his arrest, Sayoc was charged with five federal crimes: "interstate transportation of an explosive"; "illegal mailing of explosives"; "threats against former presidents and certain other persons"; "threatening interstate communications"; and "assaulting federal officers". The charges were filed by federal prosecutors of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York (SDNY). Prosecutors from the SDNY said electronic devices owned by Sayoc had data showing that he began planning the attacks in July 2018.

Sayoc was arraigned in Miami on October 29, 2018 and his court-assigned lawyer entered a plea of not guilty. Three days later, he was ordered to be transferred to New York for trial. On November 6, 2018, a New York judge ordered Sayoc to be held without bail in the Metropolitan Correctional Center, New York.

A package containing a device, addressed to former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (misspelled as "Hilary"), was intercepted by the Secret Service during a mail screening in Chappaqua, New York. A former U.S. Senator from New York and the First Lady of former President Bill Clinton, she was President Donald Trump's main opponent in the 2016 U.S. presidential election.

Sayoc is a registered Republican. He registered with the Republican Party on March 4, 2016. Sayoc filmed himself wearing a MAGA hat at one of the president's rallies. Sayoc was active on Twitter and Facebook, where since 2016 he was known for his extreme views and frequently posted pro-Trump and anti-liberal messages and memes, as well as right-wing conspiracy theories and stories from InfoWars, WorldNetDaily, and Breitbart News.

Sayoc's van was seized by law enforcement when he was apprehended. It was covered with images of Donald Trump and Vice President Mike Pence, along with a sticker that read "CNN Sucks". Some posters also supported the "unconquered Seminoles", a Native American tribe that was historically based in Florida; two federally recognized tribes are there, and another in Oklahoma. Sayoc has been described as proudly claiming Native American heritage, but the Seminole Tribe of Florida said there was no record of his being a member or employee of the tribe. Other stickers on the van showed Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, documentarian Michael Moore, CNN commentator and host Van Jones, and 2016 Green Party U.S. presidential candidate Jill Stein with gunsight crosshair designs on their faces. Moore said on Late Night with Seth Meyers on November 2 that the FBI had visited his home to inform him that Sayoc had conducted extensive research on him, according to his computer records.

Following the news of the events, the hashtag "#MAGABomber" began trending on Twitter, referring to Trump's 2016 campaign slogan, "MAGA" (Make America Great Again).

Sayoc is a bodybuilder and has abused steroids. He has made numerous false claims about himself and his background. He claimed during a 2014 deposition that he played soccer for A.C. Milan and arena football for the Arizona Rattlers, which both teams have denied. He claimed to have been a popular stripper, an owner of a strip club, and partner in Chippendales; the company says he never worked there and "has never been affiliated in any way with Chippendales".

At the time of his 2012 bankruptcy, Sayoc said he was employed as a store manager of Hassanco Investments in Hollywood, Florida. From January 2017 to January 2018, he worked part time making deliveries for a pizzeria in Fort Lauderdale. At the time of his arrest, he was working as a DJ and doorman at a West Palm Beach strip club.

Sayoc has a long criminal history. In 2002, he pleaded guilty to calling in a bomb threat to Florida Power & Light. He was also arrested on multiple occasions for charges that included theft, battery, and drug possession, with convictions in 1991, 2013, and 2014.

State records list Sayoc as connected to two, now-inactive Hallandale Beach businesses: Proud Native American One Low Price Drycleaning in 2001 and, more recently, at Native American Catering & Vending LLC in 2016. Sayoc's home was foreclosed in 2009 and he filed Chapter 7 bankruptcy in 2012 after accumulating debts of more than $21,000.

Sayoc graduated from North Miami Beach High School in 1980. He attended Brevard College for three semesters starting that year and transferred to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 1983 where he played on the school's soccer team but did not declare a major.

Cesar Altieri Sayoc Jr. (born March 17, 1962) was born in Brooklyn and moved to Florida as a child. His father is a Filipino immigrant and his mother was born in the Bronx, of Italian descent. His father abandoned him and his mother when Sayoc was a child.

The next day, Trump claimed on Twitter that the mainstream media were largely responsible for anger present in American society. His comments were echoed by former White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders, who said that Trump had urged the public to come together and had sent a very clear, strong unmistakable message that acts or threats of political violence had no standing in the United States. Sanders then attacked statements by CNN President Jeff Zucker, claiming that he "chose to attack and divide." Trump also tweeted against the media, on October 24, stating, "Funny how lowly rated CNN, and others, can criticize me at will, even blame me for the current state of Bombs and ridiculously comparing this to September 11th and the Oklahoma City bombing, yet when I criticize them they go wild and scream, 'it's just not Presidential!'"