The Republican headquarters in Washington, DC, has been placed under lockdown “until further notice”, with a Hazmat team and police personnel present on the scene after several vials of blood were sent there.
NBC correspondent Dasha Burns reported ‘vials of blood’ were supplied to the RNC headquarters.
According to Axios, US Capitol Police have informed legislators’ offices in Congress that they are examining a “suspicious substance” at the Republican National Committee address.
In a notice, police advised staff and other personnel to avoid the area until further notice.
The bomb squad team also reportedly rushed to the scene.
Taking to X, ABC reporter John R Parkinson wrote: “USCP tells me the RNC is “all clear” after investigating a suspicious substance there.”
Earlier Wednesday, the Capitol Police issued a statement advising people to avoid the block where the RNC is located, a short walk southeast of the Capitol. The House sergeant at arms, the U.S. House of Representatives’ chief law enforcement and protocol officer, sent out information advising traffic restrictions in the area “due to law enforcement activity at the RNC.”
Trump’s handpicked leadership — including his daughter-in-law, Lara Trump, as the party’s national vice chair and former North Carolina GOP Chairman Michael Whatley as RNC chairman — recently took over the RNC, completing his takeover of the national party as he closes in on a third straight GOP presidential nomination. A Trump campaign senior adviser, Chris LaCivita, has taken over as the RNC chief of staff.
Wednesday’s situation comes less than two months from the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where Trump is slated to become the party’s official 2024 nominee and significant protests are expected. According to a letter sent last month to the Secret Service, RNC counsel Todd Steggerda asked officials to keep protesters back farther from the site than had been originally planned, arguing that an existing plan “creates an elevated and untenable safety risk to the attending public.”
With agency inputs
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