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Explosives Expert Discusses Packages Sent To Obama, Clinton, Waters

Posted at 6:34 PM, Oct 25, 2018
and last updated 2018-10-25 19:41:40-04

MADISON COUNTY, Ky. (LEX 18)– Over the past couple days, identical suspected explosive devices were sent to various recipients around the country.

Recipients have included former President Barack Obama, former Vice President Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, actor Robert Deniro, Representative Maxine Waters, as well as several others.

A former FBI agent, author and now Professor at EKU’s School of Emergency Management, Tom Thurman, sat down with LEX 18 to talk about the suspicious packages.

“To my knowledge, we’ve never had this many possible devices in this amount of time,” said Tom Thurman.

He said that based upon what’s happened in the past, he believes that this is most likely the work of an individual.

Thurman is one of the world’s leading experts on explosives and even helped solve the Lockerbie Plan explosion in 1983. He has spent much of his professional life examining devices like one of the ones recovered in the past few days.

He said that there are multiple scenarios he has considered. One is that they are real bombs that just haven’t detonated. The other is that they just look incredibly real.

“Truly, the FBI will pull out all the stops, and at this point, it doesn’t matter if they are live bomb, or totally a hoax,” he said.

The FBI said that the explosive sent to CNN in New York did contain a powder, but it wasn’t believed to be a threat. The other nine devices are being examined at the FBI.