Suspicious Poisonous Letters Sent to Trump and the Pentagon Discovered

On Tuesday, October 1, American officials reported the discovery of letters containing a substance suspected to be the deadly poison ricin, addressed to Donald Trump, the President of the United States, and James Mattis, the Secretary of Defense. According to ABC News, security forces discovered a suspicious letter addressed to the President of the United States on Monday before it reached the White House. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) also stated that two suspicious letters containing the deadly poison ricin were found at the Pentagon's mail processing center, addressed to James Mattis and John Richardson, the Chief of Naval Operations of the U.S. Navy. The FBI is investigating the suspicious letters found at the Pentagon to determine whether they were contaminated with these toxic substances. The White House security police (Secret Service) also announced that they are cooperating with relevant legal authorities regarding the suspicious letter sent to the President. The statement emphasized that investigations into any threats to the President and his protective forces will be conducted seriously. Meanwhile, the U.S. Department of Defense announced that it is investigating all mail packages that arrived at the department on Monday. The Pentagon's mail processing center is located in a separate building within the department's complex in Arlington, Virginia, and is not connected to the main Pentagon building. Ricin, a deadly poison derived from castor beans, can enter the human body through inhalation, ingestion, or absorption, and its lethality is thousands of times greater than cyanide. In 2013, U.S. security officials also reported the sending of letters containing ricin to Barack Obama, the then-President, and a senator.