Last week, a letter addressed to President Donald Trump tested positive for the deadly poison ricin when it was intercepted before reaching the White House. Over the weekend, a suspect was arrested.
What We Know:
- The woman who is considered the prime suspect in connection to the ricin letter was arrested on Sunday as she tried to enter the United States from Canada, two federal law enforcement officials said. An FBI spokesperson confirmed the arrest but said the agency is still actively investigating the suspicious letter. No further details have been given.
- Law enforcement officials said the suspect was detained by Customs and Border Protection agents and the woman was taken into custody while traveling across Peace Bridge, which connects Fort Erie, Ontario, and Buffalo, New York. The suspect also had a firearm in possession.
- The woman is a Canadian national and according to two American officials, she was attempting to enter the United States nearly a year after she had been deported for engaging in criminal activity. A senior intelligence officer shared that the suspect had been living in the United States last year and was arrested in March 2019 by police in Mission, Texas, for possession of an unlicensed weapon, resisting arrest, and carrying a fake driver’s license. After the arrest, authorities discovered that she had overstayed her six-month visa and by committing a crime while in the United States, had violated the terms of her passport. She was then deported back to Canada.
- The Joint Terrorism Task Force in Washington has been leading the investigation into who sent the ricin tainted letter to the White House, addressed the Trump. The task force is also investigating other envelopes containing ricin sent to a sheriff’s office and a detention facility in Texas.
- Over the weekend, law enforcement agents said that the letters could have been sent from Canada, but that it was not clear when they were sent. The envelope, which was addressed to Trump, was intercepted at the final off-site processing facility before mail is sent to the White House mailroom, according to multiple law enforcement officials. All mail sent to the White House and other federal agencies in Washington are irradiated by the Postal Service and sorted in a separate facility that samples the air for suspicious substances.
- Two law enforcement officials said that no links to any international terrorist groups have been found. “An arrest was made of an individual allegedly responsible for sending a suspicious letter,” the F.B.I. said in a statement. “The investigation is ongoing.”
- This is the second time someone has tried to send ricin to Trump. In 2018, a Navy veteran named William Clyde Allen was arrested and charged in a seven-count federal indictment for sending mail suspected of containing ricin to Trump and to top Pentagon and other national security officials. President Obama had two separate people attempt to send him letters with ricin during his terms in office.
Ricin is a poison that is part of the waste produced when castor oil is made and has no known antidote.
