Washington, DC conservative radio station evacuated over suspicious package

WMAL, a conservative talk radio station in the US capital, was evacuated over after receiving a suspicious package

Larry O’Connor, one of the hosts at the station, tweeted that “there were some similarities” between the package and those received by CNN and several prominent Democrats over the past two days, though “it does not look” like them.

Police ordered a full evacuation after examining the package, he said.

“Could be a bad copy cat or could be something more,” O’Connor tweeted. “We will return to the air as soon as we can.“

The all-clear was given around 5:40 pm local time, less than an hour after the evacuation order. No information was available about the contents of the package.

On Wednesday, the CNN office in New York was evacuated due to a suspicious package containing a device that looked like a bomb. Similar devices intended for several prominent Democrats - including Rep. Maxine Waters (D-California), former Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, former Attorney General Eric Holder, and former Vice President Joe Biden - were intercepted by postal service or authorities. None of the devices went off.

CNN quickly blamed the threats on President Donald Trump, specifically his criticism of the media, and described the list of recipients as “Trump’s targets.” Democrat activists quickly dubbed the mystery source of the devices the “MAGAbomber,” a hashtag that trended on Twitter all day.

Corey Stewart, the Republican candidate for Virginia governor, was visiting WMAL to record an ad. He posted a short video from the outside, criticizing the “repulsive” threats of violence and blaming the Democrats for refusing to condemn - and indeed, encouraging - political violence.